Oh, Uh-Uh! That one time someone pitched Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman

Like seriously?

I like Julia Roberts.

Eat Pray Love is one of my favorite films of all time. Erin Brockovich is required watching. Julia is pretty dope. An amazing actress with a notable body of work and an infectious laugh.

But did you know Julia was up for the role of Harriet Tubman?

That's right. Screen Writer and producer of the Harriet film, Gregory Allen Howard, chronicled the time he engaged a studio executive who had the actress in mind when he first began working on the project in 1994. In a recent interview published by Harriet studio Focus Features, Howard discussed the almost 30-year struggle it took to get the Tubman biopic to film screens.

"The climate in Hollywood, however, was very different back then," Howard said. "I was told how one studio head said in a meeting, 'This script is fantastic. Let's get Julia Roberts to play Harriet Tubman.'"

Yes, as in the Harriet Tubman who fled Maryland to freedom in Philadelphia in 1849. The same who returned south almost 20 times to rescue trafficked Black People from the clutches of institutionalized slavery. The same who became a Union spy during the civil war.

Howard added "fortunately, there was a single black person in that studio meeting 25 years ago who told him that Harriet Tubman was a black woman. The president replied, 'That was so long ago. No one will know that.'"

Dude, how would anyone forget that Harriet Tubman, as in THE HARRIET TUBMAN, was a black woman?

So I guess if Harriet Tubman could be played by Julia Roberts, then, really, any Black hero can be just whitewashed? Maybe Malcolm X should be played by John Krasinski? Or Rosa Parks played by Susan Sarandon? Or a Barack and Michelle Obama biopic played by Ben Affleck and Angelina Jolie?  See how it doesn't make sense? It didn't make sense 25 years ago either.

By the way, the film Harriet was phenomenal. Your girl Harriet? A true American hero, a badass Black Woman, and a story that must be told, especially at a time like this. I knew her story, but this adaptation gives me a newfound respect for her. Go see this film if you can.