*During an SVA Theatre screening of “Hidden Figures,” which tells the story of three African American women instrumental in launching astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962, the film’s director Theodore Melfi recalled a recent incident with co-star Octavia Spencer that drove home “the real meaning of the film.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Melfi spoke about his recent observation he had while traveling with the cast to promote the film. Inside one particular airport’s first-class lounge, he noticed that Spencer was not helped by any wait staff over a ten-minute period, but when Melfi entered, he was offered coffee right away.
“I could’ve cried at that moment,” he said. “I want to dedicate this film to everyone in the world who has ever experienced that, who has sat through unconscious bias their whole lives, who has not gotten a cup of coffee or a promotion or been paid properly because of the color of their skin or their gender. I hope to god this movie is just one small chink in that bad armor.”
“Hidden Figures,” in theaters on Dec. 25, recounts African-American mathematician Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and her two colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), who worked in the segregated West Area Computers division of Langley Research Center. Using their calculations, Glenn became the first American astronaut to make a complete orbit of the Earth.
“We don’t have parades for mathematicians; we have parades for astronauts — but tonight is a parade for mathematicians,” Melfi told the SVA Theatre audience. “I hope this film shows kids of all races and sexes that there’s more opportunity and success to be had than in a Kardashian kind of world. To see a different dream about their mind is so desperately needed.”
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