Walker's contract stipulated that she would serve as project consultant and that 50% of the production team, aside from the cast, would be African American, female, or "people of the Third World." Walker wrote an initial screenplay draft, but was replaced by Dutch-born writer Menno Meyjes, under the proviso that she be given final script approval. Walker worked as an uncredited script doctor, and coached actors in their use of a Southern African-American Vernacular English dialect. Music mogul Quincy Jones, whose only prior film experience was as a composer, served as producer and approached Steven Spielberg to direct. Spielberg was initially reluctant to take the job, feeling his knowledge of the deep South was inadequate and that the film should be directed by someone of color. Walker was likewise skeptical, but was convinced otherwise after watching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Spielberg waived his usual $15 million salary in lieu of the Directors Guild of America minimum of $40,000. He chose to play down the lesbian subtext between Celie and Shug, a decision he later regretted. Casting Rather than cast established stars, Walker sought out lesser-known actors to play the principal roles, since their rise from obscurity represented the experience of characters in her novels. Whoopi Goldberg was a stand-up comedian whose only prior film role was in a 1982 avant-garde film, Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away. Oprah Winfrey was a radio and television host without prior acting experience, who was hired at Jones's insistence. After lobbying producers for the part, 29-year-old Goldberg was personally selected by Walker after she saw her stand-up. Goldberg's audition for Spielberg, where both Jones and Michael Jackson were present, saw her perform a routine involving a stoned E.T. being arrested for drug possession. Other cast members, such as Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar, and Carl Anderson; were predominantly stage performers. Akosua Busia was a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and the daughter of Ghanaian prime minister Kofi Abrefa Busia. Goldberg's real-life daughter Alex Martin has a minor role as one of the children in the Easter sequence. Margaret Avery was a veteran actress who'd previously won an NAACP Image Award for the made-for-television film Louis Armstrong – Chicago Style. Spielberg had pursued singers Chaka Khan and Tina Turner for the part of Shug, but both turned it down. Patti LaBelle and Sheryl Lee Ralph also auditioned, and