Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe Take On Race & Rocket Science In Forthcoming Film 'Hidden Figures.'
Awhile back we had written about forthcoming film Hidden Figures, which tells the stories of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. The women were Black mathematicians who began working for NASA in the 1950s. Now, we've finally received the first official trailer for the movie and it looks incredible.
Premiered during the Olympics this past Sunday the trailer shows Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe portraying Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson respectively, as the three women become an integral part of NASA's Friendship 7 mission. Johnson, an extraordinary and gifted mathematician, with the help of her colleagues Vaughan and Jackson, help astronaut John Glenn (played by Glen Powell) become the first American to make a complete orbit of the earth.
The preview really helps to contextualize everything that was going on not only in America but around the world. 1962, the year that the Friendship 7 mission was completed, the United States was still dealing with racism, segregation, gender inequality, as well as the Cold War and Space Race against the Soviet Union, the latter of which lasted well over several decades.
The trailer humorously begins with the the women making their way to NASA when they're approached by a police officer. He stammers for a second upon seeing Johnson's credentials, offering "I had no idea they hired," before Vaughan quickly responds "They have quite a few women working in the space program." Judging by the rest of the trailer the movie will dive into the challenges Johnson and her colleagues endured at NASA as black women.
Hidden Figures is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, who actually grew up with Johnson in Hampton Virginia. Noted space enthusiast Pharrell Williams is serving as one of the film's producers, and is scoring its soundtrack alongside Hans Zimmer.
The film is expected to drop in theaters on January 13, 2017. Check out the trailer below.
