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Gregory Allen Howard, the co-writer of the new
biopic "Harriet," starring Cynthia Erivo, said the idea was
floated 25 years ago by a former movie studio executive.
"Picture 1994: 'This is a great script. Let’s get Julia Roberts
to play Harriet Tubman,' said the then-president of a studio
sublabel," Howard wrote in an article for the Los Angeles Times
on Tuesday, describing his long journey to bring Tubman's story
to the big screen.
"Fortunately, there was a single black person in that studio
meeting 25 years ago who told him that Harriet Tubman was a
black woman. The president replied, 'That was so long ago. No
one will know that',” Howard wrote in the first person piece.
He did not name the studio or the executive.
"Harriet," which opened in U.S. movie theaters on Nov.1, is the
first major movie about Tubman, who was born into slavery in the
early 1800s in Maryland. As a young adult, she escaped slavery
by running nearly 100 miles through forests and fields. She then
risked her life several times to return to Maryland and lead
dozens of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.
Howard said he had never given up efforts to get the film made
but said the climate in Hollywood had only changed following the
2013 Oscar-winning movie "12 Years a Slave" and the #OscarsSoWhite
controversy in 2016 when all 20 acting nominees were white.
"It’s no accident that 'Harriet' went into production nine
months after the release of 'Black Panther',” Howard added.
Superhero movie "Black Panther," the first Marvel Comics movie
to feature a predominantly black cast, became the second
highest-grossing film of 2018, taking in $1.3 billion at the
global box office. It won three Oscars and a sequel has been
announced for 2022.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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