-Easy now.
- I'm gonna be free or die.
- Cynthia Erivo, I have a question.
- Yes.
- So this is the first feature film
on Harriet Tubman somehow.
How do you reckon with playing Harriet the myth
and Harriet the person?
- You do the research, because there's a lot that is a myth.
But by reading, by having good conversation
with those who know more than I do for sure,
you get to learn that she was an incredible person
and so, didn't really need the myths.
I didn't know about the fact that her spirituality
was the reason that she was led to do what she did.
I didn't know that she had the ingenuity to
hire a lawyer to get -
I just didn't know these things.
- So what experiences did you pull from to portray her?
- There's something quite unique about being a Black woman
that I understand implicitly.
You know, even in the UK, you feel it.
You know, that's what it is by nature.
And so you pull from those experiences,
you pull from those times when people had doubted you,
and like, I have that.
As a small woman, people look over you, they can't help it.
You pull from all of those experiences.
You pull from loss that you might have had.
You pull from love you might have lost, you know?
Relationships that didn't work,
the things that have left you heartbroken, those things.
And joyous times as well.
You pull from the things that make you happy.
I love music, so that for me
is always a way into emotion as well.
- When it was announced that you
would be depicting Harriet Tubman,
there was some backlash.
You are British American, and she is an American hero.
Were you expecting that at all?
- I don't know that I was.
But when it came, I could understand it.
You know, I know that people...
This woman means a lot to a lot of people,
and there's a lot of pain rooted in where this starts.
So I knew that people wanted this to be done well.
And you can be precious about those things.
- What would you want to see out of other projects?
I want to see what the end of her life was like.
I want to see the people that she loved around her.
I want to see her with her new partner
who was 20-something years younger than her.
Yeah.
- Oh, I did not know that!
- [Cynthia] Right?
- The drama.
What do you feel that "Harriet" achieves
that other movies depicting this era of slavery do not?
I think in some movies, enslaved people can -
you can disconnect because it's so brutal, it's so violent
that people become numb to it.
But here, we're human beings.
People being separated from family is a real thing.
It's not just the pain of the whip,
it's the pain of human separation.
- If I'm free, my family should be too.
I made up my mind, I'm going back.
I would say — and Kasi likes to say this —
When we talk about Harriet,
we talk about her journey to freedom
and the journey she made back and forth, back and forth
to bring people to freedom.
And I would say that that is what it's about.
Harriet lived most of her life as a free woman.
- And I want people to understand the scope
of the difficulty of what you've done.
So how many stunts did you do?
Half of the stunts?
- I did all of them but one.
- And you all were filming in Virginia.
- Yeah.
- And what was the weather like?
- Freezing.
- Because there's a scene where you're wading,
literally wade in the water -
- It was 37 degrees.
- 37 degrees? -Yeah.
- Did you choose to do your own stunts? -Yeah.
-Why?
You don't forget walking across water in 37 degree weather,
you don't do that.
You don't forget walking up a cliff when it's freezing
and the wind is blowing at you.
- Was there anything that really surprised you in learning about her journeys?
- This is very strange, but the gun that she carried, the Colt 45,
only has one shot.
Then you have to load it again with gunpowder.
So really and truly, she was not that protected at all.
- If trouble comes,
(rifle clicks)
you'll be ready.
- This really was a mission that she did
that put herself in danger consistently.
And that the - what was really wonderful is that
there was a wonderful network, the Underground Railroad,
full of people and allies who were set to help
and make those missions possible as well.
It's the idea that people can come together really
to create something, a network,
that brings people to safety.
- We all within us have the power to change the world,
that we can all stand up
and we can all bring one another with each other.
We have the strength to do that.
And if we want to, we really can.
If someone who was five foot, with very little means,
could stand up on her own and change the world,
then we have no excuses.
We should be able to do the same.
- And it's no secret that you are an Oscar away
from being a coveted EGOT.
I know you're hearing this a lot.
EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Tony.
Where does your confidence come from, and your drive?
- Probably my mother.
She moved to London, I think she was 24 when she moved
with her younger sister from Nigeria.
And she kind of set up her own life.
She was here under the impression
that she would be doing catering.
She was told that she had to do that.
And then she decided that she didn't want to.
And she put herself through nursing school,
did all the classes that were necessary
to put herself into university,
got into King's College on her own.
Made it through, graduated,
is like at the top of her class.
She was a single mother raising two kids,
she's just been amazing.
And she's never once told me that I can't do something.
She said - she reminded me the other day that she said,
She's always told me, if you want something,
you work hard for it.
- And what do you think your success means
for these young Black girls -
- [Cynthia] Yeah.
- And women of color who see you and are like,
that could be me.
- That is never far from my mind
when I pick the roles that I pick,
or I do the projects that I'm doing,
or I show up the way I show up,
or I wear the clothes I wear.
Because I want, I want young girls,
especially young Black girls, to see me and see themselves,
and see an opportunity to express themselves fully,
and know that they can reach
the highest heights if they want to.
Because really and truly, behind all of this,
is a little girl that was in London in a council house
with a mum and her sister who had a dream,
and was given the opportunity
because she was given some confidence.
So I hope it gives other young girls some confidence
to know that it's possible.