Singing a Different Tune for The Color Purple Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFF helps director Blitz Bazawule bring a fresh and vibrant visual style to a musical-feature adaptation of the classic novel. By Derek Stettler T 56 / DECEMBER 2023 hirty-eight years after Steven Spielberg brought The Color Purple to the big screen, Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the resilient Celie Johnson has returned, this time as a rousing musical. For cinematographer Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFF and Ghanaian director Blitz Bazawule, the production marked three major " firsts " : the first time Bazawule would helm a studio feature, the first time Laustsen would shoot a musical, and the first time both filmmakers would work together.