HBO, in a statement, said filmmakers worked with five other Lacks family members as paid consultants. Skloot and her publisher have stood by the book's accuracy. They've now scaled back their comments, saying they're more concerned about the accuracy of the book. Henrietta's oldest child, Lawrence Lacks, and his son, Ron, criticized both the book and the film publicly last month. Not all of us have cells that have transformed modern medicine, but we all want to know our parents more.ĭEGGANS: The movie's impending debut has also exposed tensions among some in the Lacks family. WOLFE: The film needed to be about Deborah. Wolfe said he chose to make the film's story more personal. It's not like those people would have understood anyway.ĭEGGANS: Fans of the book will notice there isn't as much science in the movie. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I suspect there was no effort to explain anything in great detail. In the film, Skloot, played by actress Rose Byrne, confronts a doctor who was involved.īYRNE: (As Rebecca Skloot) Were you aware that the Lackses thought that you were testing them for cancer? They had to pull information from an indifferent, white-dominated medical establishment, which included people who took blood from the Lacks family for further research, letting them believe they were testing them for cancer. And I just felt the story would be safe with her.ĭEGGANS: Skloot and Deborah Lacks spent years working on the book. Oprah's going to make a movie, and she's going to play me. REBECCA SKLOOT: She always said, you know, this book is going to come out. And the real-life Skloot told me last week that Deborah, who died in 2009, wanted Winfrey to play her in any movie. The movie's largely told from the journalist's point of view. I'm ready.ĭEGGANS: Winfrey's down-to-earth charm helps humanize Deborah, who had serious mood swings. ROSE BYRNE: (As Rebecca Skloot) I'm ready. So my whole life, I grew up not knowing one thing, not even the littlest things, like, what was her favorite color, or what happened to her clothes? You better get yourself ready because this story is crazy enough for three books. Old folks, they didn't talk about nobody wasn't alive. So when journalist Rebecca Skloot calls hoping to write a book about Henrietta, Deborah is jubilant. She was a passionate, righteous woman struggling against racism and a tangled family history to learn more about the mother who died when she was a child. The immortal life of henrietta lacks movie hbo how to#OPRAH WINFREY: (As Deborah Lacks) For years, it seemed like a dream, not knowing what was going on, not knowing who to go to for understanding - didn't even know how to talk about it.ĭEGGANS: Deborah Lacks is a role that Winfrey seems destined to play. Lacks's daughter Deborah, played in the film by Oprah Winfrey, was particularly wounded by the secrecy. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) What makes this sample so unique is that this is the first cell line we have discovered in over 30 years of trying that can survive and reproduce indefinitely.ĭEGGANS: But Lacks's family wasn't told back then that the cells were taken or compensated for them. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS") Researchers in the 1950s took cancer cells from a young black woman, which led to the development of drugs for polio, leukemia and many other illnesses. The immortal life of henrietta lacks movie hbo tv#Here's NPR TV critic Eric Deggans.ĮRIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: HBO's "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks" begins with a brilliant montage showing the birth of the biomedical industry. The movie is based on a bestselling book, "The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks." It's a true story in which the title character is played by Oprah Winfrey in her first leading role in a TV movie since the 1990s. Vaccines, cancer treatments, in vitro fertilization all benefit from the HeLa cells.An HBO film out this weekend works to expose a historic injustice. Her cells were the first to live outside of the human body and because of this, went onto lead the charge in medical research. In 1951, Henrietta died at age 31 from an aggressive form of cervical cancer. According to The Washington Post, Lacks eldest son, Lawrence, said he is the executor of his mother’s estate and believes that the surviving members of his family should reap any rewards. While Lack’s cells have gone on to help millions, her children however have not received any financial compensation from John Hopkins University. The film chronicles Deborah’s discovery and more importantly how the unauthorized use of Lack’s cells lead to breakthrough in medicine. Deborah is on a search to learn about her mother whose cells helped advance modern medicine and create the first immortal human cell line. Oprah Winfrey stars in the film adaption of Rebecca Skloot’s bestselling nonfiction novel as Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter. ‘O Girls’ Follows The Story Of Oprah Winfrey’s Girls Leadership Academy
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