About some criticism the movie received , Steven Spielberg : " Most of the criticism came from directors that felt that we had overlooked them , and that it should have been a black director telling a black story . That was the main criticism . The other criticism was that I had softened the book . I have always copped to that . I made the movie I wanted to make from Alice Walker ’s book . There were certain things in the lesbian relationship between Shug Avery and Celie that were finely detailed in Alice ’s book , that I did n’t feel could get a PG-13 rating . And I was shy about it . In that sense , perhaps I was the wrong director to acquit some of the more sexually honest encounters between Shug and Celie , because I did soften those . I basically took something that was extremely erotic and very intentional , and I reduced it to a simple kiss . I got a lot of criticism for that . " Filmmaker Oliver Stone defended '' The Color Purple '' as " an excellent movie , and it was an attempt to deal with an issue that had been overlooked , and it would n't have been done if it had n't been Spielberg . And it 's not like everyone says , that he ruined the book . That 's horseshit . Nobody was going to '' do '' the book . He made the book live again . " In 2004 , Ebert included '' The Color Purple '' in his list of " Great Movies " . He stated that " I can see its flaws more easily than when I named it the best film of 1985 , but I can also understand why it moved me so deeply , and why the greatness of some films depends not on their perfection or logic , but on their heart . " '' The Color Purple '' was nominated for eleven Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Actress for Goldberg and Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey . It failed to win any of them , tying the record set by 1977 's '' The Turning Point '' for the most Oscar nominations without a single win . The film was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards at the 43rd Golden Globe Awards , with Whoopi Goldberg winning Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
nominated for eleven
58th Academy Awards
The Color Purple (film)