Harriet Tubman has a worthy star to help bring her story to the big screen. The Color Purple actress Cynthia Erivo is to play the famed slave, army spy and abolitionist in a forthcoming biopic.
Reports Page Six:
Tony Award-winning actress Cynthia Erivo has been tapped as the title character in Macro/New Balloon’s film “Harriet,” the biopic on famous abolitionist and warrior Harriet Tubman. Seith Mann is attached to direct from a script by Gregory Allen Howard.
Tubman is an American hero who escaped the shackles of slavery and subsequently helped free others from servitude through a channel of safe houses and secret routes known as the Underground Railroad. She also served a spy for the Union during the Civil War and fought for women’s right to vote.
The pic is being co-financed by Macro, New Balloon and Stay Gold Features. Debra Martin Chase is producing along with Howard, Founder/CEO of Macro Charles D. King, Daniela Taplin Lundberg and Kim Roth. Exec producers are New Balloon’s Elizabeth Koch, Kristina Kendall, Nnamdi Asomugha and Bill Benenson as well as Poppy Hanks.
Erivo earned a Tony Award for her portrayal of Celie in Broadway’s version of The Color Purple.
We’re usually cool on slave flicks, but Erivo’s involvement in Harriet makes it a must see off g.p.
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Photo: WENN.com
