Kasi Lemmons’s 2019 Harriet Tubman biopic, Harriet, took 25 years to get made. During that time, several actresses were suggested for the lead role.
Viola Davis, for example, was attached at one point, though her version of the film never came to fruition. Cynthia Erivo ended up playing Tubman, but that wouldn’t have happened if one Hollywood executive had gotten their way back in 1994.
According to Harriet screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, that was the year the movie’s long journey to the big screen began. Howard spent six months writing the first draft of what he initially planned on calling Freedom Fire. Although the production company that financed the script loved it, the studio they were working with ultimately decided not to move forward with the project.
Before that, however, someone proposed a pretty wild idea.
Julia Roberts Really Was Suggested to Play Harriet Tubman in a Movie
“This is a great script,” said the studio president in an early meeting. “Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman,” they continued. Howard was told that the one black person who happened to be there that day then politely reminded the president that Tubman wasn’t a white woman. Undeterred, the unidentified head of the studio told the black executive, “That was so long ago. No one will know that.”
Thankfully, moviegoers were spared this whitewashed version, but Howard’s story paints a clear picture of how much Hollywood has changed over the past few decades. Howard fought hard for the script and had many a door slammed in his face along the way. Finally, after 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2014, Howard convinced his agent that Hollywood was ready for a Tubman biopic.
Harriet became a critical and commercial success and won numerous awards, in addition to earning two Oscar nominations. Interestingly enough, that’s half as many as Julia Roberts has earned in her entire career.
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