Oprah's Gearing Up To Play This Role...

Last time Queen Of the Universe Oprah Winfrey took to the big screen it was to portray Gloria Gaines, the thoughtful, strong-willed, supportive wife of the title character. This time Winfrey's gearing up to play a notoriously feared woman: Richard Pryor's grandmother, in the comedian's upcoming biopic. It's probably of interest to some people that the character Winfrey will be playing was the madam of a brothel. The biopic in question is to be directed by The Butler's Lee Daniels. Daniels posted a photo on Instagram Sunday with Winfrey and Mike Epps, who'll be playing Pryor in the film. He captioned it "And we're off... Get ready y'all for #richardpryo," tagging Epps and Winfrey's Instagram accounts.

It'll certainly be interesting for audiences to see Winfrey — who's certainly broached ~*salacious*~ topics before but also sorta serves as America's fabulously wealthy and wise aunt — in a role like that of Marie Carter. Pryor was one of four children raised primarily by his grandmother in her brothel, and Pryor talked later about the beatings he endured at her hand. Winfrey's been praised for her acting for decades, and this certainly sounds like the kind of performance that will continue the tradition.