The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks — Teaser Trailer

source:   hbo.com, youtube.com

added: Fri, Feb 17th '17

Oprah Winfrey takes an emotional journey as she unearths her mother's legacy in the first trailer for the new HBO movie "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."

The cable drama, which also stars Rose Byrne (Neighbors, Annie), is based on Rebecca Skloot's best-selling book of the same name about the untold true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951, although her cells were donated -- without her or her family's knowledge -- to medical research and eventually became the first "immortal" human cells successfully cloned in a lab. That cell line, known as "HeLa" (short for Henrietta Lacks), played a vital part in developing the polio vaccine as well as a number of groundbreaking medical treatments.

The movie also delves into the life of Henrietta's daughter, Deborah Lacks (played by Winfrey), who did not know about her mother's historic and enduring contribution to medical science until the story finally came out, nearly two decades after her mother's death.

Byrne portrays science writer Rebecca Skloot, who formed a close relationship with Deborah and her family while she researched and wrote the book, which took Skloot more than ten years to complete.

Directed and adapted by Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated director George C. Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe), "Henrietta Lacks" is slated to premiere on Saturday, April 22nd.

synopsis:
Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne star in this adaptation of Rebecca Skloot's critically acclaimed, bestselling nonfiction book of the same name. Told through the eyes of Henrietta Lacks' daughter, Deborah Lacks, the film chronicles her search, along with journalist Rebecca Skloot (Byrne), to learn about the mother she never knew and 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.

 

directed by   George C. Wolfe

starring   Oprah Winfrey, Rose Byrne, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Reg E. Cathey

release date   April 22, 2017 (on HBO)

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