'Roots' remake, set to begin New Orleans filming in mid-August, issues casting call for extras
New Orleans-area filming on a "Roots" remake, slated to air on three A&E networks in 2016, is expected to begin in mid-August. An open call for background actors was issued Tuesday (July 21) by Caballero Casting. The project, to be simulcast on History, A&E and Lifetime, was announced in April.
The four-night, eight-hour project will film here through December. Filming will also take place in Africa, an A&E spokesman said Wednesday.
Laurence Fishburne will portray Alex Haley in the "Roots" remake, based on Haley's novel "Roots: The Saga of an American Family" as well as new historical scholarship, according to A&E's initial announcement of the project.
The original 12-hour 1977 miniseries, starring LeVar Burton as the slave Kunta Kinte, was a cultural landmark and ratings powerhouse. Burton is a co-executive producer of the new project.
Read more: http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2015/07/roots_remake_new_orleans_filmi.html#incart_2box_nola_river_orleans_news
Cross-posted in the Louisiana Group and African American Group.
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