‘Underground,’ a ‘Roots’ reboot and the flurry of new slave-related projects
The Steve McQueen-directed “12 Years a Slave,” written by John Ridley from the Solomon Northup memoir, has been a key force in changing the narrative about the slavery era as depicted on film, TV and the stage. Wednesday’s premiere of WGN America’s “Underground,” the first prime-time television series to tell the story of slaves and the Underground Railroad, is just one of several other slavery-related projects in the pipeline. They include:
• A new version of “Roots”
On Memorial Day, the cable network History will unveil a four-night, eight-hour miniseries based on the epic slavery drama that became a national phenomenon when it first aired on ABC in 1977. The series is touted as a “contemporary production using material from Alex Haley’s book with carefully researched new scholarship of the time.” LeVar Burton, who played the young African captive Kunta Kinte in the original miniseries, is a co-executive producer. The forthcoming “Roots” will feature a starry cast including Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Anika Noni Rose and Matthew Goode.
• The original “Roots” will be released for the first time on Blu-ray in June.
• “Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)”
Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’ three-hour play set in the Civil War era, “Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3),” will make its Los Angeles debut at the Mark Taper Forum in April. The play follows a slave who goes off with his master to serve the Confederacy.
• “The Birth of a Nation”
Awards buzz has already been building for “The Birth of a Nation,” which won raves when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the midst of the #OscarsSoWhite uproar. Nate Parker, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in the film about the Nat Turner slave revolt of 1831, said in an interview with The Times that the story was about “a man whose fight was against injustice. It’s not just a film for black people. It’s a film about freedom for all of us. ... It promotes healing.”
• Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) has been developing a movie for HBO about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
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New TV, stage and film projects are looking at slavery with a bold new emphasis on empowerment
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