Mark your calendar. HBO has announced a premiere date for “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” The film, based on Rebecca Skloot’s book of the same name and starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne (“Spy”), tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American tobacco farmer whose cells were used — without her knowledge — to create the first immortal human cell line.
As HBO’s description details, “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, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It’s a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people.”
Lacks’ cells helped the medical community advance research in cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and the polio vaccine, but her contributions to the field have received little recognition.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” is directed by George C. Wolfe (“You’re Not You”) and will premiere on the premium cable network April 22. Its supporting cast includes Renée Elise Goldsberry (“Hamilton”), Kyanna Simone Simpson (“Show Me a Hero”), Leslie Uggam (“Empire”), and Courtney B. Vance (“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”).
Check out a trailer of Skloot’s book for more details about Lacks’ extraordinary story. In it, the author describes how she became interested in Lacks’ history when she was just 16 years old.
