Everett/Shutterstock
Purple Rain was released on July 27, 1984 and was Prince’s first film appearance.
CNN
—
For 40 years, Prince fans have been laughing and bathing in his film Purple Rain.
In this semi-autobiographical musical, which was released on July 27, 1984, Prince plays “The Kid,” a musician who plays local clubs in Minneapolis with his band while trying to escape his abusive father. The protagonist also faces conflict with another group and begins a relationship with an aspiring singer played by Apollonia.
Prince reportedly came up with the idea to star in the film and told his managers that he wouldn’t re-sign unless they let him make a major movie with his name in the title.
That never seemed to happen, according to people involved in the film’s production. In 2016, producer Bob Cavallo said Discussion with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Many directors and studios initially turned down Purple Rain because most of the cast was unknown and they were concerned that it would be Prince’s first film and directorial debut. Studio executives suggested replacing Prince with John Travolta, but the producers rejected the idea. Warner Bros. ultimately produced the film. (Both CNN and Warner Bros. are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)
During their first meeting, director Albert Magnoli recalled pitching Prince his vision for the script, about a protagonist whose father was also a musician and who reconciles with his bandmates after his father’s death. “Prince responded, ‘Why did you tell me the story of my life in the last 10 minutes?'” Magnoli told Variety in 2019..
Courtesy of Warner Bros./Everett Collection
The film and album Purple Rain won an Academy Award and two Grammy Awards.
Upon its release, the film was a commercial and critical success, and the soundtrack earned Prince an Academy Award and multiple Grammy Awards.
While the cast and director had no idea how big the movie would become, Prince’s drummer Bobby Z recalled that the night they filmed the concert scenes, Prince knew.
“He was frantically saying we were making history. ‘We are making history tonight, tonight is history!'” Bobby told Yahoo Entertainment..
“I was there,” Prince told Alan Wright in his book Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Birth of Purple Pain. “I did it, it was my baby. I knew before it happened. I knew what was going to happen. After that it was like labor, like giving birth. It was a very hard thing to do in ’84.”
A few years later, Prince Died in April 2016 – He admitted that “Purple Rain” was a defining moment that has stuck with him throughout his career. He even called it a “burden.”
“In some ways it did more harm than good. … It typecast me.” He once said.
Prince rarely gave interviews, but he did once respond to criticism of the portrayal of women in his films, including a scene in which a character throws his ex-girlfriend in a trash can.
“I didn’t write Purple Rain. Someone else did, but it’s a story, a fictional story, and it should be taken that way and nothing else,” he said. “Violence happens in everyday life, and we were just telling a story, and I hope it’s taken that way. I don’t think anything we did was unnecessary. Maybe we went too far at times for humor, and if so, I’m sorry, that was not the intention.”
The film is centered around the album that became one of the most successful albums of all time and is credited with paving the way for other groundbreaking musical projects such as Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker,” Eminem’s “8 Mile” and Beyonce’s “Lemonade.”
rear Prince’s Posthumously, “Purple Rain” was re-released in cinemas. In 2019, Library of Congress National Film Registry It was selected along with 24 other sites for its “cultural, historical and aesthetic importance.”
“I think the most important thing in all of this is to make a film that is authentic,” Magnoli told Variety, “and over time that’s proven to be the right path, because the film is constantly re-evaluated and there’s a fanbase that protects and cherishes it. And it starts with authenticity from the beginning.”
The film is also planned to be adapted into a stage musical. According to PlaybillThe show is billed as “pre-Broadway” and is scheduled to begin performances in Minneapolis in the spring of 2025.
