“I didn’t feel like, ‘Oh, I wish I would’ve done that.
Oh, I should have moved that over there.’
Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty
Robinson’s influence was felt even before filming ofThe Color Purplebegan.
Fatima Robinson at the L.A. premiere of ‘The Color Purple’.Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty
Robinson recalls, “He was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening!'”
Get your stretches in, kids.
Me and my dance crew entered and won this big $5,000 dance contest.
At the time he just graduated from USC film school.
He was like, “I’m going to put you in my movie.”
And we’re like, “Yeah, whatever.”
And he put us inBoyz n the Hoodas extras.
I was 18 then.
I know her from the club.”
And before we got off the phone I was like, “Yeah, yeah, this sounds great.
I’m super excited.
Count me in.”
And he says, “Michael Jackson.”
We had all that time to work out the kinks.
And then I was able to travel a lot in Europe and see the world.
It was like when we danced, it was synchronized swimming.
I gave her everything.
She was like a sister to me.
We had been in rehearsal, so all we really had was the dance.
Let me just focus on the dance."
You rarely get music videos anymore where they’re just focusing on the dance.
I think it resonated with everybody because of that.
It was just probably getting started.
That club scene was just what we used to do in the clubs back in the day.
And you would learn what the New York kids were doing or the Atlanta kids were doing.
So doing that movie was just so much fun.
I didn’t expect the reaction from that film to be like that.
That was pretty amazing to see.
But it was a testament to the power of hip-hop dance and how everyone was so hungry for it.
It really felt like I had trained for that movie my whole life.
Dre,Snoop Dogg,Mary J. Blige.Eminem, andKendrick Lamar) and the Oscars.
A really tricky thing to do, but I figured it out and it started our relationship.
So yeah, I was working my butt off.
And we all went together.
So we’ve always had this love for that movie.
I was just like, “Sign me up.”
I felt every number.
Every musical number felt good to me.
Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) coming to town was so wonderful and rewarding to see.
The work song withCorey [Hawkins] he’s just so good and pulls it off so lovely.
I just love it so much.
It makes me well up just thinking about how great it is.
I can’t wait for the world to see it.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Want more movie news?
