Our favorite Empire cast member and Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson has been announced to play Katherine Johnson, a genius mathematician for a new film in development for Fox 2000. The film Hidden Figures is an adaptation of a book with the same title, authored by Margot Lee Shetterly and published by HarperCollins.
The story follows Johnson, as she and her team spearhead the think tank responsible for an important advancement in the history of our country’s journey into space exploration. Along with Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, they devised the plan that would send NASA astronaut, and future Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, John Glenn into orbit around the earth aboard the Friendship 7 and returned him safely. The flight lasted just under 5 hours.
Taking place in the middle of a lawfully divided America, these women dealt with the ramifications of the Jim Crow laws and first hand racism, as well as the fight for gender equality in the work place. However, it is clear from their story that they are and should be considered as true American heroes.
Ted Melfi, the director of St. Vincent starring Bill Murray, is a producer on the film as well as the brain behind the lens. Other producers listed along with him are Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Donna Gigliotti.
In her own words:
The release date for Hidden Figures is January 13, 2017 and is scheduled to film in Atlanta this year.
