Janelle Monae Joins Taraji P. Henson Upcoming Black Scientist Film “Hidden Figures”

There’s a new black movie coming with a lineup of black actresses and it’s not about slavery! Janelle Monae is joining Taraji P. Henson and Oscar award winner Octavia Spencer in a NASA drama called ‘Hidden Figures.’ The film is based on the book ‘Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race’ and is centered around three black female mathematicians that gave NASA important data needed for the success of Friendship 7 Mission. The mission would lead to the first American astronaut to orbit earth in 1962.
Taraji is expected to play the lead mathematician, Katherine Henson, and Monae and Spencer will play her colleagues. Janelle Monae has been reported confessing her admiration for NASA and even said that she was thinking about joining the agency’s tech team so so could get a free ride to space, according to Billboard.
 
Seasoned director Ted Melfi is directing the film. According to Variety the film will release early next year, January 13th, which falls on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
 
We can’t wait to see this film. It’s refreshing to have black women playing untraditional roles. Do we see award nominations coming?
 
Source: Complex, http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/03/janelle-monae-joins-hidden-figures-movie
 
TSR Intern: @jalenmosby on IG and Twitter.