Julia Roberts was the first actress to be suggested to play the role of slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman, according to the scriptwriter of a film about her life.
Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard says a Hollywood executive said it was so long ago “no one will know” Harriet was black.
Harriet creator Gregory Allen Howard says an unnamed studio president who discussed making the biopic back in 1994 said: “This is a great script. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.
When it was pointed out to him that Tubman was black he reportedly responded: “It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference.”
The film took 20 years to bring to the screen.
Describing the Hollywood climate as “very different back then”, Howard credits films like 12 Years A Slave and Black Panther with proving box office success of films with black protagonists.
Howard was speaking to studio Focus Features ahead of the film’s release at the end of this week.
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