New version of Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ is just as powerful as Classic
The History Channel Resurrects a Classic
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| Kirby with the original Kunta Kinte, LeVar Burton. Casey Crafford Played by LeVar Burton in his professional acting debut, the young Mandinka warrior-turned-Southern slave was brutally whipped until he acknowledged his new slave name.“Your name is Toby. You’re going to learn to say your name. Let me hear you say it. What’s your name?” “Kunta. Kunta Kinte.” “Lord God, help that boy. They’re gonna whip him dead.” |
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| Dallas native Erica Tazel as Matilda, wife of Chicken George. |
Nearly 40 years later, an ambitious eight-hour remake of Roots will air at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday on three networks: A&E, History and Lifetime.
The new Roots, while telling the same story, is very different in a multitude of ways — particularly in terms of its rich visuals, because TV production values have advanced exponentially in four decades.
But one thing hasn’t changed: That iconic whipping scene, now with English actor Malachi Kirby in the pivotal role, is just as intense, ugly and upsetting. It will haunt viewers the same way the original did — but at the same time, no one will dare look away.
A hard day
When asked to recount what filming that scene was like, Kirby, a soft-spoken 26-year-old, gets very serious.
“There wasn’t any laughing between takes on that day, I can assure you,” he says. “It was a difficult day, a horrible day, an important day. I was terrified of the responsibility of playing it.
“I had no idea how to prepare for it, how to depict a pain that I had never felt and could never feel, because I was never actually going to be hit with the whip. But I still had to show it.
“Then LeVar Burton, who is a producer on this series, came to me. What he said, just before we shot the scene, had a great impact on me. He said, ‘When I did this 40 years ago, I was a mighty child. But you, Kirby, are a mighty man.’ Then he walked away.
“It sounds like a small thing, but it gave me a strength that didn’t quite feel human. When we did the scene, I had those words reverberating in my mind: ‘I am a mighty man. I am a mighty man.’
“There were times when we stopped shooting and I couldn’t stop crying. I wasn’t crying out of any physical pain because I was never physically hurt. I was crying out of the torment that every person who had gone through that pain must have felt. And also the pain of having your identity taken away from you.
“I felt like I could hear every one of Alex Haley’s ancestors’ screams that day. It was horrible. Then we had to shoot it again. And again. And again. There was a lot of support and love from everyone on the set, but it was definitely a hard day emotionally for everyone.”
Suffice to say that the new Roots doesn’t cut any corners in its efforts to tell a difficult story about centuries of slavery in America. Ultimately, though, it is an uplifting account of one family’s will to remember and to celebrate its cultural history.
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| Forest Whitaker, left, stars as Fiddler and Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte in Roots. |
1977Year the original ‘Roots’ aired
The star-studded cast includes Laurence Fishburne (as Alex Haley, the author of Roots), Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Chad L. Coleman and Derek Luke.
In many cases, the casting is superior to the original. While the 1970s Roots had amazing performances from Louis Gossett Jr., Ben Vereen, Leslie Uggams and Cicely Tyson, it also featured actors who seemed out of place (i.e., sitcom stars, including Robert Reed of The Brady Bunch, and O.J. Simpson).
‘Unsung hero’
The makers of the new Roots also were more mindful of achieving historical accuracy, which is essential given that one of the networks airing it is the History channel.
Erica Tazel — a Dallas native who plays Matilda, the wife of Chicken George, in the third and fourth nights of the miniseries — remembers even the tiniest details being treated with the utmost care.
“There’s a scene in night three with Chicken George making fun of my preacher father that led to a big discussion of the word ‘tummy’ versus the word ‘stomach,’ ” Tazel says. “The issue was, ‘Were they saying ‘tummy’ in 1825?’ Nothing was taken for granted here.
“Of course, there’s a lot more information available today, as opposed to when Alex originally was trying to piece together his genealogical line in the 1970s. We especially see this in night one, where Kunta Kinte’s community and culture in Africa is more fully fleshed out.”
I TELL PEOPLE, DON’T OVERLOOK MATILDA. … WHAT SHE DOES TO KEEP THIS FAMILY UNIT TOGETHER AND WHAT SHE DOES TO PASS THE TRADITIONS DOWN TO HER CHILDREN IS A BEAUTIFUL THING.
Tazel, who’s perhaps best known for her six seasons as U.S. Marshal Rachel Brooks inJustified, can’t quit singing the praises of her character.
“I call Matilda the unsung hero of the Roots story,” she says. “When you hear people talk about Roots, she’s not the character that people immediately remember, like Kunta Kinte, Fiddler and Chicken George. When you think of the women, you think of Belle (Kunta’s wife) and Kizzy (their daughter).
“But this woman, her importance to the family is not to be denied. She is the mother of the eight great-grandchildren of Kunta Kinte. And while she doesn’t experience any of the physical violence that we associate with women during this time period, there was an emotional toll.
“She had to see three of her children sold and her husband going off, not knowing how long he’s going to be gone, and she still had the fortitude to keep the rest of the family together through a move to another plantation and ultimately to freedom.
“I tell people, don’t overlook Matilda. She’s a strong woman. What she does to keep this family unit together and what she does to pass the traditions down to her children is a beautiful thing.”
Working on the miniseries, in fact, inspired Tazel to investigate her own roots.
“There are DNA tests that we can take to determine a genealogical blueprint for a person,” she says. “When we started shooting this, that was going to be my wrap gift to myself. I would get my DNA test and then, from there, I will do some more digging.
“Well, I just had my DNA test done. I have sent my sample off and I am hoping, fingers crossed, that I get my genealogical blueprint in time for the premiere. I can’t wait.”
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