Actress Cynthia Erivo Says Prayer Helped Her Bring HARRIET Character to Life
Allyson Vannatta, Contributing Writer
Actress Cynthia Erivo, who portrays Harriet Tubman in the new movie HARRIET, says that prayer helped her bring the character to life.
“The only thing I could do, really, to center myself was to pray,” Erivo said. “I was listening to gospel music just before I went in. As I walked to say that prayer, it didn’t feel like I was just saying it as Harriet. It felt like I was saying it as me,” Ambotv reports.
Erivo further explained how this moment had intensified her faith, and how powerful prayer and faith can be in someone’s life.
“I think the thing that happened as that was happening and throughout, was my faith got stronger,” she said. “The idea that faith really can bring you through something. That was an intense ‘oh I get it now. I understand.’’’
HARRIET is based off the life of Harriet Tubman and her “…escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes.”
Kasi Lemmons, who directed BLACK NATIVITY, writes and directs this project. In 2013, BLACK NATIVITY was nominated for the Epiphany Prize® for Most Outstanding Movie.
Movieguide® previously recognized Katherine Craddock’s script about Tubman, AMERICAN EXODUS, as the winner of the Third Annual $50,000 Chronos Prize for Most Inspiring Screenplay.
“I’m just so thankful to the John Templeton Foundation and to Movieguide® for so generously encouraging the telling of uplifting stories,” Craddock said.
“…Really, this award goes to Harriet Tubman and the great men and women of the Underground Railroad. Their courage and their faith in action continue to inspire us today. If someone were to give Harriet this award, she would say, ‘It wasn’t me. It was the Lord.’ I have to completely agree, because the Lord is the best storyteller if we give our lives to Him. We should all use our lives as a reflection of the greatest storyteller, Jesus Christ.”
Tubman was raised Methodist, and her faith drove her decisions.
In her later years, Tubman extended her care to the elderly and established an old folks’ home in which she was also nursed until she went to be with the Lord in 1913.
The movie hits theaters on November 1.
To learn more about the movie, click here.
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