Corey Hawkins was excited at the chance to learn more about the dynamic between his character Harpo and Harpo’s father Mister ( Colman Domingo ) in The Color Purple . In an interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum, Hawkins said how he thought the characters’ dynamic of an unloving father and a son trying to access that love was “very important” to tell because “it existed back then and it still exists now.” “It’s a dynamic that I think is worth exploring, it’s a dynamic that I think is worth getting more curious about and allowing ourselves the space and the time and the vulnerability to break these things open,” he said. “That’s the benefit of working with someone like Colman that I can ask these questions of and we can literally start to peel back the layers and start to see what it is that makes Harpo tick.” Hawkins said that because of Colman’s “etched out” and “nuanced” portrayal of the character, he was able to see more of how Harpo would have been...
