In the early 1980s, Spielberg befriended WarnerMedia CEO Steve Ross, which eventually resulted in him making films for Warner Bros. This started with The Color Purple (1985), an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. It was Spielberg's first film on a serious subject matter, and he expressed reservations about tackling the project: "It's the risk of being judged-and accused of not having the sensibility to do character studies." Starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office hit and critics started to take note of Spielberg's foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert rated it as the best film of the year. The film also received eleven Academy Award nominations, and Spielberg won Best Director from the Directors Guild of America.
