Oprah Winfrey purchased the film rights to the novel in 1987. She claims that while reading the book, she could only picture herself as Sethe and Danny Glover as Paul D. It took her ten years to get the film made, which she finally had to produce herself.
A subplot in the novel, but omitted from the film, suggests that Beloved might actually be a missing woman from a nearby town, who was tortured and imprisoned by a white man. The subplot underscored Sethe's need for Beloved to be her reincarnated daughter.
To prepare for her role as a slave, Oprah Winfrey went through a twenty-four hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up, blindfolded, and left alone in the woods.