Focus Features has released the lyric video to the powerful original song "Stand Up" from Kasi Lemmons' "Harriet" starring and sung by awards hopeful Cynthia Erivo.Erivo, who also serves as the song's co-writer with Joshuah Brian, is now available on all digital platforms with the full soundtrack releasing on November 1.
"Harriet," tells the inspirational life of iconic American freedom fighter Harriet Tubman. The movie chronicles her extraordinary tale of Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes. This is the first major motion picture for the African-American icon.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year before moving on to the Middleburg Film Festival last weekend, where it garnered just one of two standing ovations from audience members. The film was also one of the runners-up for the Audience Award, which was awarded to Netflix's "The Two Popes."
In the latest Oscar Prediction charts on The Circuit Hub, "Stand Up" is currently predicted in the Top 5 of contenders following original numbers from Disney's "Frozen II" and "Aladdin," and Paramount Pictures' "Rocketman."
Erivo also has a chance to follow in the footsteps of Mary J. Blige, who in 2017 became the first person ever to be nominated for an acting performance and an original song in a single year. Blige was nominated in Best Supporting Actress for her powerful turn in Dee Rees' "Mudbound" and the song "Mighty River." Blige ended up losing both prizes to Allison Janney from Craig Gillespie's "I, Tonya" and the song "Remember Me" from Pixar's "Coco" respectively.
Erivo's turn as Tubman has been generating Oscar buzz for months, as she currently sits at #3 in the Lead Actress charts behind Scarlett Johansson from "Marriage Story" and Renée Zellweger from "Judy."
Focus Features will release "Harriet" in theaters on Nov. 1.
Check out the song, stills, and images down below.
