'Roots' EP Says Whipping Scene Made Star 'Collapse'

History

[Spoiler alert: Do not read on if you have not seen the first episode of A&E’s “Roots.]

Night one of History’s remake of “Roots” closes with one of the most iconic scenes from the original miniseries, in which Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby in the remake, LeVar Burton in the original) is whipped for refusing to use his slave name, Toby.

TheWrap spoke with “Roots” executive producer Mark Wolper about filming the scene, which was treated with soberly by the cast and crew.

“On that particular day of shooting, LeVar Burton was on the set,” Wolper said. “He made it a point to be on the set that day because of the iconic nature of that scene. There certainly was an air of the spirits there on that scene. The set was very quiet, much more reserved than usual. During the first few test whippings, LeVar Burton actually started crying.”

Also Read: 'Underground' Introduces Major Civil Rights Figure as New Character in Season Finale

“After we’d been filming the scene for a while, LeVar went over to Malchi and shortly after that, Malachi collapsed,” he continued. “He was being held up by these ropes and he said, ‘Please unhook the ropes.’ He collapsed down on the ground and had a very emotional moment. He said he sort of felt like all this history was surging through him.”

Wolper’s father David was a producer on the original “Roots,” which was based on the book of same name by Alex Haley. When asked why it is important he carry on his father’s work by telling the story again, Wolper thinks the answer is obvious.

“Learning and understanding history is an ongoing and every generation has an obligation to teach it to the next generation,” he said. “Pretty much anyone under the age of 37 hasn’t heard the story. Maybe they’ve heard of ‘Roots’ or heard of Kunta Kinte. Then you realize it’s a story we have to keep telling over and over again.”

See video: Professor Todd Boyd on #OscarsSoWhite: 'The Academy's A- Was Out'

And while comparisons between the remake and the original are inevitable, Wolper believes that the two miniseries will stand on their own.

“TV is better now than it has ever been. So to photographically be better, the wardrobe is better, the makeup is better. The directing style and pacing has been translated to the language of today. The original ‘Roots’ was absolutely the best it could be for the 1970’s. I believe our ‘Roots’ is the best it could be for 2016.”

“Roots” will air parts 2-4 for the next three nights at 9 p.m./8c on Lifetime, A&E, History and Lifetime Movie Network.

21 Times Hollywood Tackled Race Issues (Photos)

Selma (2014) - David Oyelowo plays civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a biopic that explores the civil rights leader's role in the 1965 Selma protests.
Harpo Films/ Plan B Entertainment
Dear White People (2014) - This biting satire follows four black college students making their way in "post-racial" America.
Homegrown Pictures
12 Years a Slave (2013) - Chiwetel Ejiofor led the 2014 Best Picture winner, which is a true story about a freeborn black man who spent over a decade in slavery in the pre-Civil War South.
Fox
Django Unchained (2012) - Quentin Tarantino's controversial Oscar winner follows a freed slave who fights to liberate his wife from a brutal plantation owner.
The Weinstein Co.
Gran Torino (2008) - Clint Eastwood plays a grizzled Korean War veteran who reluctantly takes his young Hmong neighbor under his wing.
Warner Bros.
Crash (2004) - 2006's Best Picture Winner traces the intersecting lives of people of different races in present day Los Angeles.
Bob Yari Productions
American History X (1998) - Edward Norton plays the leader of a violent neo-Nazi gang who reevaluates his life when he sees his little brother going down the same path.
New Line
A Time to Kill (1996) - Based on the best-selling John Grisham novel, Samuel L. Jackson plays a man on trial for murdering the two white supremacists who raped his daughter who turns to an untested lawyer played by Matthew McConaughey.
Warner Bros.
Schindler's List (1993) - Steven Spielberg's unflinching look at the Holocaust through the eyes of a man who saved thousands of Polish Jews.
Universal
Malcolm X (1992) - Spike Lee and Denzel Washington teamed up for the true story of the inflammatory Nation of Islam leader.
Warner Bros.
School Ties (1992) - Brendan Fraser led this all-star cast (which included Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) in which he played tbe only Jewish student at an exclusive 1950's prep school.
Paramount
Boyz n the Hood (1991) - John Singleton's hard-hitting look at life in South Central Los Angeles saw Cuba Gooding Jr. trying to avoid the pitfalls of life in the ghetto.
Columbia Pictures
Dances with Wolves (1990) - Kevin Costner won multiple Oscars for this tale of a Civil War soldier who comes to identify with an oppressed native tribe in the American West.
Orion Pictures
Do the Right Thing (1989) - Spike Lee's searing portrait of a day in the life of a mostly black Brooklyn neighborhood during an intense heat wave.
Universal
Mississippi Burning (1988) - The true story of the disappearance of three civil rights protesters in 1960's Mississippi and the FBI agents who investigated.
Orion Pictures
The Color Purple (1985) - Whoopi Goldberg was nominated for Best Actress in this story of a black woman at the turn of the century fighting for her place in society.
Amblin
Blazing Saddles (1974) - Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor collaborated on this hysterical look at a black sheriff taking charge of a frontier town.
Warner Bros.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - Sidney Poitier stars in this groundbreaking film about a white woman who brings her black fiancee home to meet her parents.
Columbia Pictures
In the Heat of the Night (1967) - Sidney Poitier again challenged conventions when he portrayed a black detective investigating a murder in a rural Southern town.
United Artists
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Gregory Peck cemented his place in film history as Atticus Finch, a white lawyer defending a black man accused of rape, in the adaptation of Harper Lee's masterpiece.
Universal
Birth of a Nation (1915) - Considered the first true narrative film, it attracted widespread criticism for its portrayal of African Americans and its glorification of the KKK.
D.W. Griffith

1 of 21

The film industry has never shied away from the controversial topic

Selma (2014) - David Oyelowo plays civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a biopic that explores the civil rights leader's role in the 1965 Selma protests.

View In Gallery