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Morning Edition
Cathy Wurzer

35 years since the Prince movie 'Purple Rain' premiered

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It’s been 35 years since Prince's movie "Purple Rain" premiered in Hollywood. The director of that film, Albert Magnoli, told Rolling Stone that when they started the project, Prince had about 100 songs ready to use. Magnoli winnowed those down for the screenplay, but felt like the untitled project was still missing its "anthem."

“Maybe you’ll hear it one of these days,” Magnoli recalls Prince saying. Sure enough, Magnoli was watching Prince play at First Avenue in Minneapolis a short while later when he heard the opening bars of a new song. He says he knew right away that they had their anthem (and a name for the film.)