Fox 2000 Studios has been busy at work on the film adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly’s upcoming book, Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, but information regarding the film has been relatively scarce.
Luckily, the film’s star has finally been revealed. And it’s none other than Taraji P. Henson, whose recent win at the Golden Globes for Best Actress in a Drama TV Series (Empire) has established her as a pioneering African-American woman herself. Joining the cast as Katherine Johnson, a brilliant NASA mathematician, Henson will help tell the story of the unsung hero(in)es of the Cold War/Space Race era. The film will be directed by Ted Melfi, who also directed 2014’s St. Vincent.
Though no other casting information has been revealed, Hidden Figures is already set to open in theaters worldwide on January 13, 2017.