THE RITUALISTIC LIFE and MURDER OF PRINCE: PT. 4 SEGMENT 8: "The Purple Rain Movie" “ (Pt.1)

In this first of 2 Part SEGMENT 8 "The Purple Rain Movie", Prince has been thinking of making a major motion picture since about 1980.  He was writing a screenplay while on the “1999” tour, and this was common knowledge amongst the band.  Prince’s management deal with Cavallo, Ruffalo, and Fargnoli was now up for renewal, and the managers were anxious to hold onto Prince as a client.  Prince met with the mangers after the “1999” tour concluded to discuss the prospects of a major motion picture deal.  If the managers could secure a move deal with a major movie studio, then he would resign with them. 

Remember from the last episode, how Dez Dickerson decides to leave Prince’s band and is replaced by Wendy Melvoin at this time.  This was not a popular move for the side groups, and others in Prince’s circle, since she was regarded as an “outsider” and “interloper”, and many felt  she “got it too easy”.  Vanity (Denise Matthews) and Morris Day have formed a friendship, and spend their free time clubbing, drinking, and drugging.  They seemed to have bonded around their resentment of Prince, who they viewed as forcing them into “puppet” roles, fronting their bands.  They both also had aspirations to leave Prince and pursue solo careers. 

Also, Prince and Vanity had no real relationship to speak of by the time the “1999” tour ended, and they were not speaking.  The reality of the storied “romance” between Prince and Vanity, was in fact a brief fling, created, publicized, and promoted by the managers for what purpose?  As always to make money for themselves and the label, and potentially to promote the upcoming movie, that would star Prince and the side groups.

Reality begins to set in for “The Time” when they realize that Prince’s firing of Jimmy and Terry was for real.  Monte Moir and Jellybean Johnson quit, and Prince quickly invited them back.  Only Jellybean returned to The Time.  Prince also invited Jimmy and Terry back, but they decided to “stay on their own”. 

As to the “movie”, Warner Brothers Pictures was not interested in a Prince movie when approached by Steve Fargnoli in Spring of 1983.  They weren’t interested in a film starring a relatively still unknown “Prince”, his “1999” album success notwithstanding.  Fargnoli next met with Mo Ostin, the Chairman of WB Records and discussed the movie idea with him.  Ostin loved the idea of a Prince movie, mainly considering the movie music that would come out of the film.  Ostin also knew Prince’s work ethic and knew he would take the project seriously. 

Ostin arranged for a $7 Million loan to Prince to get the movie made or a $7 Million advance to be repaid out of Prince’s royalties from the film.  Prince had the money to MAKE the film, but the project would still need the backing of a major motion picture studio to promote, and distribute the film. 

After securing TV screenwriter and director William Blinn,  for what was now being called “Dreams”, Prince and Blinn started crafting the story for the film.  The original story that Prince and Blinn developed varies significantly from the produced version of “Purple Rain” that we all know and love.

Prince and the side groups engaged in acting and dancing lessons in preparation for the film. However, Morris didn’t really take the movie or the lessons seriously, and was often absent from these sessions.   We will see some interviews with The Revolution band members describing the process of preparing to shoot the movie in Summer 1983. 

Susannah Melvoin comes to town to visit Wendy, and Prince begins to pursue her.  Blinn must leave the project, and Bob Cavallo brings Albert Magnoli to the project.  Magnoli then completely changes Purple Rain into the story that we see today. 

Vanity is still seething behind how she was treated by Prince on the tour, and starts complaining to the managers that she wants more money.  After a few public blowouts with Prince, she is fired by Warner Brothers.

The managers put out a casting call and cast Patricia Kotero to star in what was now called, “Purple Rain”. Prince renames her Apollonia, and sticks her into the side group now called “Apollonia 6”.  We do a deep decode of Apollonia, and uncover some of the reasons why she was cast in the film.

-This episode contains numerous clips from the movie, and interviews with the stars of “Purple Rain” and The Revoloution band members. 

-9 Unreleased Prince tracks from the episode posted for Patrons of the “Lovesexy” Tier and higher.