Janelle Monae Will Co-Star in a Movie About the Women Behind the Space Program, Gizmodo
“This is amazing. One of our favorite musicians, Janelle Monae is co-starring in a movie about the African American women who helped launch America into space, alongside Person of Interest’s Taraji P. Henson. Hidden Figures comes out in January 2017, on Martin Luther King Day weekend, and it’s based on a new book that comes out in September called Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. Henson is playing Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer is playing Dorothy Vaughan, and Monae is playing the youngest of the three, Mary Jackson. The film is being directed by Ted Melfi.”
Keith’s note: NASA PAO confirms that they have been involved in his project from its onset.
This is fantastic news. Good on NASA for helping them tell this story.
Interesting slice of little-known history. Three very high-profile leads.
Odd that the author references Henson’s past role in Person of Interest and not her current role on Empire.
Likely to go entirely unremarked, the fact that if any of these five women were in school today, their peers would be beating them up and breaking their glasses for “acting white.”
Well this is interesting. I’ve spent almost 40 years obsessed with the space program and I don’t know this story. This could be good.