We escaped Julia Roberts playing Harriet Tubman – but whitewashing lives on Yomi Adegoke
over 4 years in The guardian
Behind closed doors, roles meant for ethnic minority actors are being rewritten as white
It is a headline that reads as if it were ripped from a Saturday Night Live skit: Julia Roberts was once the favourite to play the legendary African American 19th-century abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The revelation came from Gregory Allen Howard, the screenwriter and producer of the recently released film Harriet, in a Q&A earlier this month.
“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. “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.” Continue reading...
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