TV mogul Oprah Winfrey has landed a lead role in "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks".
The star, 62, has been developing the TV movie for six years after teaming with "True Blood" creator Alan Ball to produce the project, reported Deadline.
The film, for America's HBO network, will be based on Rebecca Skloot's book and will centre on the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cancerous cells were used in medical research to create the first immortal human cell line.
"She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells - taken without her knowledge in 1951 - became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more," a description on the book's official website reads.
"Henrietta's cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can't afford health insurance."
Broadway director-producer George C Wolfe has written the script and will direct the film, which will begin shooting in the summer.
