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Oprah Takes ‘Life of Henrietta Lacks’ To HBO

Even with a new network debuting next year, Oprah Winfrey has added another project to keep herself busy.

She’s joining with producer Alan Ball to create a film based on the nonfiction best-sellerThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

So says the Associated Press:

The network said Wednesday that Ball, creator and executive producer of HBO’s drama series True Blood, will develop the project with Winfrey and her Harpo Films studio.

Written by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her consent, pieces of the tumor that killed her were removed and used for medical exploration and to build a billion-dollar research industry.

Here’s more from Mediabistro:

On Twitter, author Rebecca Skloot fielded questions about the adaptation.

Skloot revealed that the producers will include both herself and her subject’s family: “I’ll [be] a consultant on film, so will Lacks family. That was important [to] me & HBO. That’s [one] of many reasons HBO was right home [for the book.]” She added: “I’ll be a consultant, and so will Lacks family.”

She also noted: “I’ve known [for] a while, just couldn’t say anything about it until it was public, which happened this AM while I was sleeping.”

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