The first full-length trailer for Harriet, the forthcoming Harriet Tubman biopic, is here, and it's got Oscar contender written all over it. The film stars Cynthia Erivo as the abolitionist who escaped slavery and then returned to the South to help free other slaves and fight for women's suffrage. Not only was Tubman a conductor on the Underground Railroad, she also worked for the Union as a nurse during the Civil War and reportedly acted as a secret spy for the U.S. Army.
'The story is such an important one to tell, and it’s crazy that it hasn’t been told yet. I think that everyone needs to learn about this woman,' Erivo has said of Tubman. 'There’s always a fear when you’re portraying a woman who means a great deal to a lot of people, and you want to make sure that you do her justice.'
In the newly released preview clip, Erivo as Tubman shoots at slave owners and jumps into raging rivers to escape them. The role could lead to more big things for the actress, who just needs an Academy Award to lock in an EGOT—having already snagged an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony for her incredible performance in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple.
Directed by Kasi Lemmons and due out on November 1, Harriet also features Leslie Odom Jr. as abolitionist William Still, plus Joe Alwyn and Janelle Monáe.
In May, ELLE.com spoke with Tubman's great-great-great-grandniece, Ernestine 'Tina' Martin Wyatt, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delayed a redesign to add her image to the $20 bill during a House hearing. Martin Wyatt called it an 'aversion tactic' by the Trump administration to quash the initiative altogether.
'I'm so mad and frustrated and angry, she deserves to be there,' Martin Wyatt, 65, said. 'This would have been an honour, an olive branch and an acknowledgement, of sorts, from the president to say, "We want to honour this African American woman that rose out of oppression, we want to honour what she did for this country." To me, she's the greatest of patriots, and should be represented in our currency.'
'Aunt Harriet stands for love and goodness and she did what she did without hesitation and with a bounty on her head,' Martin Wyatt added. 'She was a patriot through and through and we, her descendants, felt it was a kind of ultimate honoir to have her on the $20.'
Rose is a Senior Editor at ELLE overseeing features and projects about women's issues. She is an accomplished and compassionate storyteller and editor who excels in obtaining exclusive interviews and unearthing compelling features.
