HIDDEN FIGURES

2016 ‧ Drama film/Comedy-drama ‧ 2h 7m

Recent release : January 6,2017 (USA)

Initial release: December 25, 2016 (USA)

Director: Theodore Melfi

Screenplay: Theodore Melfi, Allison Schroeder

Production companies: 20th Century Fox, TSG Entertainment, Chernin Entertainment

Producers: Pharrell Williams, Theodore Melfi, Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping

IMDB Ratings : 7.1/10

Starring : Taraji P. Henson , Octavia Spencer , Janelle Monáe Kevin Costner , Kirsten Dunst , Jim Parsons

ABOUT

Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder, based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly. The film stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, the African American mathematician who calculated flight trajectories for Project Mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon. The film also features Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons.

SYNOPSIS

The film recounts the story of the African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who, while working in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center, helped NASA catch up in the Space Race. Using their calculations, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of the Earth.

PRODUCTION

On July 9, 2015, it was announced that producer Donna Gigliotti acquired Margot Lee Shetterly's nonfiction book Hidden Figures about a group of black female mathematicians who helped NASA win the Space Race by providing mathematical computations for the launch of John Glenn and his fellow astronauts into space. Allison Schroeder wrote the script, which was developed by Gigliotti through Levantine Films, and which also would produce the film along with Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment. Fox 2000 Pictures acquired the film rights, while Theodore Melfi signed on to direct it. Since the film's development was announced, various actresses were considered to play the black female roles, including Oprah Winfrey, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, and Taraji P. Henson.

On February 10, 2016, Fox hired Henson to play the lead role of mathematician Katherine Johnson, while producers on the film would be Chernin and Jenno Topping, along with Gigliotti and Melfi. On February 17, Spencer came on board to play Dorothy Vaughan, one of the three lead mathematicians. On March 1, 2016, Kevin Costner was cast in the film to play the head of the space program, and following him, singer Janelle Monáe signed on to play the third lead mathematician, Mary Jackson. Later the same month, Kirsten Dunst, Glen Powell, and Mahershala Ali were cast in the film, where Powell would play astronaut John Glenn, and Ali as Johnson's love interest, with the other two for unspecified roles. On April 1, 2016, Jim Parsons was cast in the film to play the head engineer at the Space Task Group at NASA, Paul Stafford. In April 2016, Pharrell Williams came on board as a producer on the film. He also would write original songs and would handle music department and soundtrack of the film.

Principal photography on the film began in early March 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. Filming also took place at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics at Dobbins Air Reserve Base.