Octavia Spencer will star alongside Taraji P. Henson in the Hidden Figures film adaptation. In the past, the Oscar-winning actress (pictured,via) has acted in several book-based movies such as The Help, Insurgent, and Snowpiercer.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the story for this project comes from Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. HarperCollins intends to release this nonfiction book on September 6.
Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “The Fox 2000 project tells the true story of a group of black women whose brilliance in math helped NASA find its early success with its space missions. Spencer and Henson are playing mathematicians who must deal with racial and gender discrimination. Fox is planning to release the film Jan. 13, 2017, to coincide with the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.” (via Variety)