Cicely Tyson Reunites With Michael Wilson for Contemporary "Roots"-Inspired Film | Playbill

News Cicely Tyson Reunites With Michael Wilson for Contemporary "Roots"-Inspired Film Tony Award winner Cicely Tyson, an Emmy nominee for her performance in "Roots," will co-star in a new feature film that explores the social upheaval in a Southern town during the premiere of the landmark 1977 miniseries about slavery, according to Deadline.com.

Michael Wilson, who directed Tyson in the revival and subsequent Lifetime movie adaptation of The Trip to Bountiful, will direct "Showing Roots," which is currently filming in Baton Rouge, LA.

The cast will also feature Maggie Grace ("Taken") and Uzo Aduba ("Orange is the New Black," Godspell) as two women, Violet and Pearl, respectively, who work in a local beauty parlor owned by Elizabeth McGovern ("Downton Abbey"). The cast will also feature Adam Brody.

In the 1977-set film, Violet and Pearl are inspired to integrate their community after "Roots" premieres on television. They are met with resistance and backlash in the process.

Tyson is cast as Pearl's grandmother. The veteran actress portrayed Binta, the mother of central character Kunta Kinte in the Emmy-winning miniseries "Roots."

Susan Batten authored the script. "Showing Roots" is produced by Michael Mailer, Batten, Nick Thurlow, Bill Haber, Jeff Hayes, Alan Helene and Jennifer Gelfer. A premiere for "Showing Roots" has not been revealed.

 
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