#SoundsAboutWhite: Julia Roberts Was Once Suggested to Play Harriet Tubman
Julia Roberts was suggested to play Harriet Tubman by studio exec, says Harriet screenwriter https://t.co/9XlW4oF6gl
- Entertainment Weekly (@EW) November 20, 2019
Today in "Ha, wow, they....they really did that.", it was revealed by Gregory Allen Howard ("Harriet" screen writer) that way back in the year 1994, they were working on another Harriet Tubman biopic.
“I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, ‘This script is fantastic. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman." Howard said.
For those of you who do not know, Julia Roberts is a white woman.
Pictured: No melanin.
"When someone pointed out that Roberts couldn’t be Harriet, the executive responded, ‘It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference.'”
"So long ago" being around 1849. 170 Years ago. And an even shorter distance in 1994.
As we know, Roberts was not cast (I wonder if she was even asked...), and today, we have "Harriet", starring Cynthia Erivo, a black British woman.
Well, that's a little closer, I suppose.
src.