Hollywood Exec Wanted Julia Roberts to Play Harriet Tubman

[redheadbaker]

There's not enough "WTF?!?" in the world for this.

ew.com/movies/2019/11/19/julia-roberts-harriet-tubman-studio-exec-suggestion/

Harriet, the historical drama based on Tubman’s life released earlier this month, stars Cynthia Erivo. But the film’s screenwriter and producer, Gregory Allen Howard, says when he first started working on the movie in 1994 that one studio executive suggested Julia Roberts to portray the legendary slave turned abolitionist. Yes, that Julia Roberts.

In a Q&A with Allen published earlier this month by Harriet studio Focus Features (and reiterated in an L.A. Times essay published Tuesday), Allen recalled how “the climate in Hollywood … was very different” some 25 years ago.

“I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, ‘This script is fantastic. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman,'” Allen explained. “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.'”

[mrsukyankee]

[seeyalater52]

Oh for the love of god.

[penguingrrl]

I just... I don't get how anyone could even think that, let alone say it out loud. How fucked up do you have to be?

[icedcoffee]

Makes sense...LOL

[twilightmv]

Cocaine is a hell of a drug?

[downtoearth]

I just read the original interview that this came from and I am disappointed that editors decided that a producer's comment to use a white Hollywood start for Tubman from 1994 was the way to get people to click on their story and maybe go see Harriet. Although it worked on me to click and then go find the original interview.

Gregory Allen Howard should call that person out b/c that was all the movies/producers in the 90's (and honestly us watching movies too), and what that 1994 producer said was stupid and racist, but it also was not the point of the interview or about the movie Harriet, so I wish we could both condemn that thought and celebrate the movie itself.

The 26 year project of writing and waiting for the environment in Hollywood to change, but also the tenacity of Howard to get it to screen in a tough environment is a better take-away than calling out that producer. I think Howard's ability to "keep going" and "inspire people" in that industry is more apropos of why he kept at getting this story onto screen or as screenwriter Howard said,

"What do you want viewers to take away from the film?

That you can triumph against insurmountable odds. It may be hard. It may be challenging. But you can do it. The obstacle of slavery as an institution —it was a billion-dollar industry—seemed insuperable. Don't forget that it took a civil war to end that institution. She must have been terrified every time she went back to the South, but she kept going back to save more people. If that doesn't inspire you, then nothing will."

www.focusfeatures.com/article/interview_screenwriter_gregory-allen-howard


I'm interested to see what twitter has to say about this b/c I did see some comments on Harriet being great, but another slave-themed movie for black actors vs. modern movies that cast black actors.

[raangoli]

I wondered why they mentioned that on the morning show I listen to. I had missed the backstory.

I hate that this is the story people will talk about rather than her legacy.

[Deleted]

#ForFucksSake

[secretlyevil]

When I saw the first few headlines and read one of the articles about this, I literally thought to myself the satire is getting a bit carried away. Then I saw the headlines weren't from satire sites. 

[Vespasia]

I'm surprised it wasn't Scarlett Johansson.

[TBM]

Nov 22, 2019 14:17:17 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

I'm surprised it wasn't Scarlett Johansson.

She was only 10 at the time, but if it had been a few years later, it probably would have been her.

[Vespasia]

Nov 22, 2019 14:27:39 GMT -5 TBM said:

Nov 22, 2019 14:17:17 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

I'm surprised it wasn't Scarlett Johansson.

She was only 10 at the time, but if it had been a few years later, it probably would have been her.

Hah! I guess I should have actually read the quoted part of the article.

[Pom]

SMDH.

Go see the movie, if you haven’t already. It was really amazing.

[WOT?*]

Nov 22, 2019 14:17:17 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

I'm surprised it wasn't Scarlett Johansson.

I was just coming in to post Ghost in the Shell. It was on last night/this morning and reminded me of this post.

And wasn't there also Aloha with Emma Stone?

It's all about bankability. And you're not going to get bankability if you're not hired.  

[msmerymac]

downtoearth, I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

[wawa]

Nov 22, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

downtoearth, I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

Why? The problematic I mean? Quick Google did not answer.

[jigsy]

Nov 22, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

downtoearth , I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

I have heard on the twitter-verse that most of the people who said it wasn't good were people actually never saw it, but said it was bad based on someone saying something.

Like, there was an issue with the "white savior" scene...which...really wasn't what it was being presented as. There is also people who have taken issue with the movie adding in a black slave catcher character, which, while not historically accurate to Harriet's own experiences, it is accurate to the time. And, Harriet also didn't see into the future, so, I don't think they were going for 100% accuracy.

[downtoearth]

Nov 22, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

downtoearth , I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

I saw it and this is my 2-cents - not an expert on movies or history. It is a great movie - very interesting and thoughtful and a good example of the amazing hurdles that getting 70 people from the south to the north took for one amazing person (and her support network). Seventy people moved in small groups of less than 7 usually - moved by foot and cart 100 miles. Also I liked to see how the underground railroad was before Harriet and also that it had to rely on white and black leaders. The leader of the railroad (Leslie Odom Jr.'s character) is a dynamic and influential character.  As was Janelle Monae's and I like Cynthia Erivo in it - she does great. The talking to God part is definitely made-up and a bit odd, but I interpreted it as a super intuitiveness and didn't take it literally. There is an amazing retelling/line of how slaves were like pigs and about having a favorite pig that is disgusting and really raw and was great to thread through to remind people that white slave owners were out for themselves all. the. time. 

Is it accurate - nope. Gregory Allen Howard - writer and story - has never claimed that and said he took license with the history he loved around Harriet Tubman. But that didn't take away from the movie being thought provoking and showing the different reasons that free blacks stayed in the south or slaves decided to run away or stay. It was dynamic in those characters. However, again I get that it is a historical movie with a "happy" ending where Harriet Tubman helps so many people, her family included, and fights in the Civil War, and then lives to be 91. I can understand why black actors would be disappointed that another slave-focused film is getting Oscar buzz, and I think this was an Oscar-level, film; however, it's not a new idea or modern film, but I really enjoyed it. 

[katfco]

There are some historical inaccuracies, Some made to represent historical fact, if not Tubman’s personal experiences, such as showing the black slave catchers. And there’s no evidence that she encountered them, but she might have.

Other changes were made for cinematic purposes, like the slave owner’s son’s relentless pursuit. It gave the audience a singular primary villain to fear, but never made it seem as though he was the only one to fear.

I have no idea what kind of white savior image could exist in the movie, because the only “good” white people who help her get maybe one line a piece.

[VillainV]

Nov 22, 2019 15:30:16 GMT -5 wawa said:

Nov 22, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

downtoearth, I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

Why? The problematic I mean? Quick Google did not answer.

Some people were disappointed that an American black actress wasn’t cast for the part.

[shauni27]

Nov 22, 2019 15:30:16 GMT -5 wawa said:

Nov 22, 2019 15:15:45 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

downtoearth, I had heard the opposite. That the movie was... not good. It was getting a ton of Oscar buzz before release, but that's really all dropped off. And Cynthia Erivo is problematic for some people.

Why? The problematic I mean? Quick Google did not answer.

I saw it and I loved it. I found it powerful, moving and honestly I learned a bit. It was really well done.

But I know that there have been discussions about it being another film where POC must play slaves in order to have a staring roll and I absolutely see the validity in that.

[bronxgirl]

Nov 22, 2019 19:02:28 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Nov 22, 2019 15:30:16 GMT -5 wawa said:

Why? The problematic I mean? Quick Google did not answer.

Some people were disappointed that an American black actress wasn’t cast for the part.

And I think Erivo has also been accused of being critical of Black Americans

thegrio.com/2019/07/25/british-actress-cynthia-erivo-faces-harriet-backlash-due-to-past-tweets-mocking-black-americans/

[msmerymac]

Nov 22, 2019 22:28:16 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Nov 22, 2019 19:02:28 GMT -5 VillainV said:

Some people were disappointed that an American black actress wasn’t cast for the part.

And I think Erivo has also been accused of being critical of Black Americans

thegrio.com/2019/07/25/british-actress-cynthia-erivo-faces-harriet-backlash-due-to-past-tweets-mocking-black-americans/

Yes, sorry. This is what I was referring to, which might be compounded by the fact that she is British, not African American.