Hidden Figures (2016)
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- The incredible score for Hidden Figures was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- The original script for Hidden Figures was written over a decade before production finally began in 2016.
Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama directed by Theodore Melfi, based on Margot Lee Shetterly's nonfiction book about three African-American women who made crucial contributions to NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. Taraji P. Henson stars as Katherine Johnson, a mathematical genius whose calculations of orbital mechanics were essential to John Glenn's successful orbit of Earth in 1962.
Octavia Spencer plays Dorothy Vaughan, a supervisor who taught herself and her team to program IBM computers before they replaced human calculators. Janelle Monáe plays Mary Jackson, an aspiring engineer who petitioned the court for the right to attend all-white graduate classes required for her degree. Hidden Figures told a story that had been largely unknown to the general public despite occurring during one of America's most documented historical moments, and its revelation that Black women were instrumental to the Space Race while simultaneously fighting segregation was both inspiring and infuriating.
The film balanced the excitement of the space program — genuinely nail-biting launch sequences and mathematical breakthroughs — with the daily indignities of Jim Crow-era segregation, including Katherine's humiliating half-mile runs to the only "colored" bathroom in the facility. Hidden Figures earned $235 million worldwide on a $25 million budget and received three Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
