In an industry that routinely, completely, removes the screenwriter or novel writer from the filmmaking process entirely, Walker had the power to interview directors and approve the one for the film version of her book. Walker felt right with a young director named Spielberg – someone who seemed on the surface far removed from the characters in her book – and went with him wholeheartedly. Walker sits down with DVDFILE and tells us how she used the advice of her ancestors to choose him to helm THE COLOR PURPLE.

You've said many times how satisfying it was to take your Pulitzer Prize-winning novel THE COLOR PURPLE and see it become a film. Was it also satisfying to see it become a DVD?

Yes. I had a little hard time the very first time I saw the film because I saw it in an empty theater. And it grew on me, and by the time it opened in New York City, I loved it, as did all of my family. The DVD, I think, is really special because you are able to have some additions to the film itself that I think will really help people see how much commitment and dedication and devotion went into the creation of the film.

Do you think the extras on the DVD will help deepen the understanding of the film?

I think what viewers will get, maybe from the DVD is the sense of how it was made. I think that there were a lot of questions early on about how it was made. And a lot of those questions will be answered. There will be wonderful interviews by almost all of the main participants. And, of course, even Spielberg and Quincy Jones are interviewed. I think that it will be lovely for people to just see what a family we created on the set.

On the DVD there's an interview Steven Spielberg in which he seemed to express some regret that he was a bit shy dealing with the lesbian relationship between Celie and Shug Avery. Do you feel that relationship was explored enough in the movie?

Well, no because, you know, his angle was very different. And I'm really at peace with that. It's just that if I had directed it, of course their love life would have been much more vibrant.

Are you hoping to reach a new generation with the release of the DVD?

Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, I think our children really need to have something vibrant and something alive and something rousing, you know, to help them stay connected to life, to the life force. I mean, they've been taken out by drugs just in droves and droves. And, if we can produce art that has life, you know, I think we can keep a few of them undrugged.

How do you feel about the portrayal of the same sex love scenes now, looking back at the film after all these years?

Fifteen years later or however many years it's been now, when I look at it, I think he did a beautiful, very sensitive job of depicting the depths of their relationship. Because what he manages to do is, he brings in the sweetness. And that is so fine.