This seems absolutely insane, and yet… also totally believable.
If you went on Twitter at any point on Tuesday night, you likely noticed Julia Roberts’ name trending. Not because she’d done anything herself, or been linked to a new movie — but because of something that reportedly happened in a film studio meeting 25 years ago! Wait, what?!
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So, let’s start at the beginning: filmmaker and producer Gregory Allen Howard is receiving rave reviews of his new movie Harriet, released on the first of this month, which tells the inspiring and incredible story of Harriet Tubman, the legendary slave-turned-abolitionist. Tubman’s story ought to be at least a little familiar to most people who took a history class in the US; she was the woman who worked to liberate dozens of slaves through what was known as the Underground Railroad across Maryland to the North in the years immediately before the Civil War.
Well, Howard had been trying to make a film about this legendary icon of American history for more than 25 years! Finally making it happen is a massive achievement.
There was just one little problem…
In an old Q&A that quickly went viral after it was re-published in a Los Angeles Times essay on Tuesday, the filmmaker revealed the long history of his efforts in Hollywood trying to get the film on the big screen. Along the way, he acknowledged the industry’s cultural climate from decades ago was very different than what producers and screenwriters face today — and the story he used as an example for that point is jaw-dropping, to say the least.
As Howard told it in the interview, he was in a meeting with a group of unnamed studio executives way back in 1994 when the unthinkable happened (below):
“One studio head said in a meeting, ‘This script is fantastic. Let’s get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.’ When someone [reportedly the only black exec in the room] pointed out that Roberts couldn’t be Harriet, the executive responded, ‘It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference.'”
Ummm…. WHAT. THE. F**K?! How could “no one” know the difference?? Every American who’s ever half-paid attention in history class knows Harriet Tubman is black! Ugh!!!!
Thankfully for everyone involved, the dip s**t exec’s insane pitch didn’t go far; Tubman was eventually played by actress Cynthia Erivo (pictured in the inset alongside Roberts, above). The British actress is incredible in the role; critics have widely praised her performance, and even Howard himself said he knew immediately upon meeting her in a casting call that Erivo was the perfect person to play such a significant character.
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The Pretty Woman star is a fine actress, too, and her body of work speaks for itself — especially considering this reportedly happened in 1994, when Roberts was entering the peak period of her fame, coming off the hit Richard Gere-led flick in 1990, The Pelican Brief in 1992, and a host of other blockbusters. But who the hell could possibly think it would have been advisable (or appropriate) to cast a white woman like that in such an iconic black role?! And how did that incredibly dense person ever reach the role of studio executive??
Social media users predictably and deservedly erupted upon hearing this crazy tale, with many demanding the exec in question be publicly named and shamed. We’ll see if that ever happens; Howard has not revealed any more details, and considering how long ago this reported meeting took place, the exec may be long out of the biz by now.
Either way, it yet again underscores why diversity in film is so important: when you don’t have it, you get unimaginably dumb s**t like this! Reactions, Perezcious readers?! Sound OFF about this craziness in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via Focus Features/CBS/YouTube/Brian To/WENN]
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