‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,’ Starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne, on HBO

Recently, HBO premiered "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" on Saturday, April 22 starred by Oprah Winfrey as Deborah Lacks. Oprah went to visit Deborah herself in order to make the role more attaching and realistic.

Published on TV Guide, Oprah Winfrey's HBO Film is a rare film of its kind. She said, "When we went to Baltimore last summer to meet with the family for the first time, I got the address where she used to live and stopped by her old house". Adding to her statement, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" star said that one Sunday, she went to the address of Deborah and simply gave her a surprise visit.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is a nonfictional book written by Rebecca Skoot which Oprah Winfrey fall in love with. It touches the story of an inspirational woman Henrietta Lacks, whose life was involved in a medical legacy which did not include her family.

It was a moment that almost didn't happen, since Winfrey was reticent to take the part. She had fallen in love with the book that led to the "Henrietta Lacks" film, which charts Deborah's quest to find out about a mother she barely knew and a medical legacy that never included her family. The unlikeliest of sources ultimately convinced her to take the part.

For "Lacks" director George C. Wolfe, the plot of the story traces way back in history, said on Variety. "One of the things that I thought about very early on when I was working on this was 'The Tempest.' In the first scene Prospero tells Miranda her story and in the second scene, she defies him," Wolfe said. As for "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", the director said it is not about who got the power, but the one who have the will to obtain knowledge.

Oprah Winfrey hopes the film will attract more fans and readers towards Henrietta Lacks' life, one that she didn't know about before introduced to the book. Oprah intends to get millions of people to read and understand the book. It is about principle and what we stand for. Oprah fell in love with the work of Rebecca Skoot and the story of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks".