My Publicist Note Book

  The History Channel Resurrects a Classic  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.” Dallas native Erica Tazel as Matilda, wife of Chicken George.  Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/living/article79782887.html#storylink=cpy 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 h...

Ground-breaking 1970s slave drama Roots is returning - and it's set to be even more brutal Hakeem Kae-Kazim says the new drama will not pull any punches The remake stars Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin and Laurence Fishburne Ground-breaking 1970s television mini-series Roots is having a brutal re-make. The US drama, based on Alex Haley’s book charting the life of slave Kunte Kinte, was one of the highest-rated shows of the decade. Now a new “more realistic” version is being filmed on location in New Orleans and South Africa and will be screened in the UK later this year. One of its stars, Brit actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim, has told how Roots isn’t pulling any punches in how it realistically portrays how slaves were treated. He told of his mixed emotions about agreeing to take the role of vicious Samson - whose role is to “break in” the new slaves. The 52-year-old Hotel Rwanda and Pirates of the Caribbean star, who was born in Nigeria, ...

"Hannibal" and "The Matrix" actor Laurence Fishburne is set to star in the remake of the classic 1977 miniseries "Roots" for A+E Networks. LOS ANGELES  — Laurence Fishburne is joining the "Roots" miniseries remake. A&E Networks said Wednesday that Fishburne will play writer Alex Haley, whose novel about his African-American ancestry was the basis of the original TV miniseries. The Black-ish star will play Alex Haley, the author of the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, an American family origin story based around the life of Kunta Kinte. Roots, which will be an original, contemporary production, will incorporate material from Haley's novel, as well as carefully researched new scholarship about the time period over which it spans. The role was portrayed by James Earl Jones in the original 1 977 ABC miniseries which was a ratings sensation. Tony winner Fishburne earned an Emmy nomination in 1993 for his portrayal ...