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This is the latest instalment in our From the Vault feature series, in which we reflect on culturally significant movies celebrating notable anniversaries.<\/em><\/p>\n When Steven Spielberg was announced as the director of The Color Purple<\/em> (1985), which turns 40 this month, few thought he was the right person for the job. Not even, it seems, Spielberg himself.<\/p>\n Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel concerns the plight of poor African-Americans in early 20th-century Georgia.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need a black director for this,\u201d Spielberg told producer Quincy Jones. The response? \u201cDid you have to be an alien to direct E.T.<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Whatever his suitability for the role, Spielberg\u2019s intentions were honourable. He waived his usual US$15 million fee for the US$40,000 Directors Guild of America (DGA) minimum and cast unknowns in the leads.<\/p>\n Walker wrote the first draft of the screenplay, which was later revised by Dutch writer Menno Meyjes, but Walker remained on board throughout, helping the actors nail the tricky Southern dialect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n