Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Henrietta Lacks’ Film Adaptation for HBO Adds to Cast (Watch Doc on Her Life) – Shadow and Act

Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Henrietta Lacks’ Film Adaptation for HBO Adds to Cast (Watch Doc on Her Life) – Shadow and Act: "Announced today, Rose Byrne (“Damages” and much more) has been cast opposite Oprah in the HBO Films project. She will play the author of the book that the film is based on, Rebecca Skloot. It’s a book I first read in 2010, and very much a captivating read. Rose Byrne “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells the story of Lacks, a poor African America Baltimore mother of five who died of cervical cancer in 1951 at age 31, and whose cancerous cells, removed and cultured from her body for medical research by doctors at Johns Hopkins (without her family’s knowledge), led to significant breakthroughs in medical research, ranging from aiding the development of the cure for polio, to AIDS-related treatments, and much more. But that doesn’t even begin to really uncover the story of this mostly-unknown black woman, her family, and the significant contributions she unknowingly made to science. There’s a lot of meat to chew on here, and I can see why Oprah would be interested in making a film based on Lacks’ story, and aftermath. The book was published in February of 2010, and I encourage you to pick up a copy if you haven’t. You can buy it here."