Harriet Tubman Biopic in Development From Homeland Director

A movie about iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman is in development from “Homeland” director Seith Mann.

The project has a working title of “Harriet.”

Tubman was born into slavery, escaped in 1849 and made more than a dozen missions to rescue about 70 slaves though the Underground Railroad. She served as a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War and campaigned for women’s suffrage.

The U.S. Treasury announced last month that Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill in 2020.

Mann will direct from a script by Gregory Allen Howard. Production is expected to begin in early 2017 with Macro and New Balloon co-financing.

Producers are Debra Martin Chase (“The Princess Diaries”), Gregory Allen Howard (“Remember the Tiatans”), Macro founder/CEO Charles D. King, “Beasts of No Nation” producer Daniela Taplin Lundberg and Macro’s production president Kim Roth.

Executive producers are New Balloon’s Elizabeth Koch and Kristina Kendall; Macro’s Poppy Hanks and Bill Benenson. Co-producers are Kristen Konvitz and Charles Pugliese.

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King is the only African American to rise from the mailroom to partner in WME’s 118-year history. He founded Macro last year and recently partnered with Paramount Pictures and Bron Studios to produce and finance “Fences,” starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis.

Howard is repped by WME and The Gotham Group. Chase is repped by CAA and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. Lundberg is repped by WME. Mann is repped by CAA, Writ Large and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano.

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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Martina Birk

Update: 2024-10-02

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