HBO Films’ THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS, directed by George C. Wolfe from a screenplay by Peter Landesman and Alexander Woo and Wolfe, debuts on HBO on Saturday, April 22nd. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks (Winfrey), the film chronicles her search to learn about the mother she never knew and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs.
Rose Bryne, Oprah Winfrey
Journalist Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne) accompanies Deborah Lacks (Oprah Winfrey) to Johns Hopkins Hospital to learn more about the mother she never knew
It’s a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people. Rebecca Skloot’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” which took more than a decade to research and write, instantly hit the New York Times bestseller list upon publication, and remained there for more than four years. Several members of the Lacks family served as consultants on the film, including Henrietta’s children, David Lacks, Jr. and Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman, and Henrietta’s grandchildren, Jeri Lacks Whye, Alfred Carter, Jr. and LaTonya Carter.
