USA TODAY International Edition
‘ HIDDEN FIGURES’ OFFERS HOPE AT A ‘ SCARY TIME’:
Usually at film festivals, it’s the audiences who are moved to tears.
But Saturday, after 25 minutes of footage from the upcoming film Hidden Figures played, it was star Taraji P. Henson who began to cry. “I’m so glad I did this,” said Henson, brushing a tear off her cheek. “This is so important. The timing of it.”
Hidden Figures is the true story of three African- American women who worked at NASA in the 1960s: Katherine G. Johnson ( played by Henson), Dorothy Vaughan ( Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson ( Janelle Monáe). The trio helped launch astronaut John Glenn into space at a time when bathrooms were still segregated, few women were welcomed in careers rooted in mathematics, and blatant racism and sexism haunted the workplace.
“As we now know, no women, not black or white, were mentioned during Apollo 13,” noted Spencer during a Q& A following the footage. Those gathered included Spencer, Henson, Monáe and Pharrell Williams ( who contributes music to the film).
“I never fell in love with acting because of the accolades,” said Henson. “I’m a girl from the ’ hood, OK? I didn’t grow up with much. So all I had was dreams and hope. And the reason why this is so overwhelming is because when you come from a place where you have no dreams, no hope, and all you see is that people that look like you don’t belong or they have no place in society — this story is so important. If I’d known about these women coming up, maybe I would have aspired to be a rocket scientist.
“This movie represents what we should be thinking right now,” she said. “This movie represents hope — and we need it. This world is looking really scary right now.”
The actress apologized for being emotional. “We’re crying with you,” Monáe told her. “I’m proud to know superheroes are women.” Hidden Figures arrives in theaters in limited release Dec. 25, then expands wide Jan. 13.