Oprah Winfrey has been cast as the lead in HBO Film’s upcoming “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”
The actress and media mogul will play the title character’s daughter, Deborah Lacks, in the George C. Wolfe’s adaptation of the bestselling nonfiction book of the same name by Rebecca Skloot.
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. 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.
Winfrey will also executive produce the film from Your Face Goes Here Entertainment, Harpo Films and Cine Mosaic, alongside Alan Ball, Peter Macdissi, Carla Gardini and Lydia Dean Pilcher. Skloot will co-executive produce.