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Did Julia Roberts Really Almost Play Harriet Tubman in a Movie?

Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard says a studio executive seriously suggested Roberts for the role during a 1994 meeting.

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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........

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