ACTRESS HAVING DOUBLE THE FUN NEW YORK
Monae shines in pair of Oscar-nominated movies
Space permeated Monae’s artistic world long before Hidden Figures — her alter ego was a futuristic android Cindi Mayweather, and on her last album, she paid tribute to Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel in space. She even dreamt of being an astronaut.
“I’ve been obsessed with space and sci-fi. I was obsessed and still am with Mae Jemison,” she said of the first black woman in space.
And yet Monae was unaware of the story of Jackson or the other central characters in Hidden Figures, based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same name.
Jackson was one of the black female “human computers” working for NASA in the segregated South; while the main character, Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) was responsible for the mathematical formula that launched John Glenn into orbit, Jackson petitioned and won her case to study engineering at an allwhite school to further her career.
“I thought it was a fictitious story,” she said. “Once I found out that these women in fact did exist, and they did contribute to the space race and were an integral part of helping us win the space race, I wanted to make sure that no other young boy or girl or American, human being, went through life without knowing these phenomenal, brilliant-minded women.”
Monae was cast as Jackson after the Oscar-nominated Henson and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer (up for another Oscar for her portrayal of Dorothy Vaughan) were on board.
“We auditioned everyone, and we were having a hard time finding someone who had the fire of Mary Jackson,” said director Theodore Melfi. “And then in walks Janelle, who auditioned, and I think she was burning up inside herself. She’s such an activist and such a passionate and strong woman, she lit it up for us and did Mary Jackson so much justice and depth.”
We auditioned everyone, and we were having a hard time finding someone who had the fire of Mary Jackson. And then in walks Janelle.