Black women have been dominating in film and television in 2016 and it’s only getting better.
Fresh off of the jaw-dropping Empire season 2 finale, Taraji P. Henson is gearing up for the release of her latest big screen role in the upcoming film Hidden Figures. Also starring Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer and Grammy-nominated entertainer Janelle Monae, the film tells the amazing true story of a group of African-American mathematicians who played a valuable role in NASA operations during the 1960s Jim Crow era. Taraji will play the lead role of math wiz Katherine Johnson, whose genius-level skill set helped aid in NASA’s ultimately successful Apollo lunar mission. Octavia will play her supervisor, while Janelle will take on the role of a driven engineer.
Everything We Know About ‘Hidden Figures’ Biopic on Black Female Mathematicians So Far
Taraji took to her personal Instagram page to share a photo of the three ladies from the movie to celebrate the upcoming release.
Although each of the entertainers are surely proud to represent Black women in another positive light in the film, Taraji says she doesn’t aim to participate in projects labeled “Black films” by critics or fans. “I hate when I do a film, and it has a lot of African-Americans and they call it a black film,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “I don’t wake up and go, ‘Let’s see, this weekend, I’m going to see a Chinese film, I’m going see a black film, no I’m going see a white film with a black person in it.’ Who does that?”
Taraji P. Henson Set to Play Black NASA Mathematician, Katherine Johnson
Octavia also points out that labeling the film may unfairly limit the audiences that it would reach. “This is a female-driven movie about contributions that women really made, to our world, not just our society,” she told the news outlet. “That’s a big statement.”
A big statement indeed.
Hidden Figures will hit theaters in January 2017.
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