Page 8 The Skanner BLACK HISTORY EDITION February 22, 2017
Black History
Q&A with Hidden Figures Director Theodore Melfi
By Edward Henderson
(San Diego Voice and
Viewpoint/NNPA Mem-
ber)
I
magine being in the
running to direct the
newest “Spiderman”
film. What kind of
script would have to
cross your desk to make
you drop out of consid-
eration? For me, it would
have to be something that
moved my soul, told a
story that has never been
expressed on screen
before and had the po-
tential to inspire unity
in a country that sorely
needs it right now. This
scenario is more than a
hypothetical situation.
For director Theodore
Melfi, it’s real life.
Melfi was in the final
stages of consideration
to call the shots for Mar-
vel’s cash cow franchise
reboot of “Spiderman”
when pages from Margot
Lee Shetterly’s book “Hid-
den
Figures’”changed
everything. The uncom-
pleted book told the true
story of African Ameri-
can women whose math-
ematical calculations for
NASA helped fuel Amer-
ica’s greatest accomplish-
ments in space during
‘Hidden Figures’ director Theodore Melfi says the country needed a
story about Black women achieving greatness.
the ‘60s. Melfi received
the pages on a Friday,
read them over the week-
end, and dropped out
of the Spiderman race
the following Monday.
I sat down with Melfi to
discuss his passion for
“Hidden Figures” and
the leading ladies who
brought the story to life.
Edward Henderson:
What inspired you
about this story to take
it on?
Theodore Melfi: First
of all I couldn’t believe it
was true that there were
women at all working at
NASA because we were
so sexist at the time. To
further dig into it and
discover that Katherine
Johnson was the only
person that [Astronaut]
John Glenn trusted to
run his numbers before
his Friendship 7 launch.
He is quoted as saying
‘Get the girl to run the
numbers, if she says
they’re good, they’re
good to go.’
I have two daughters
and I said to myself
there’s nothing more
valuable for my life than
to do this story justice.
EH: Why do you think
it took so long for a story
like this to be told?
TM: Sometimes these
stories get pushed to the
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side because they’re not
sexy at the time or you
need the right environ-
ment to bring it to light.
We’re in the right envi-
ronment now for sure.
The country needs to
see a story about women
achieving greatness and
Black women achieving
greatness in math and
science. We also need
this movie we need the
country to unite and stop
dividing under racial
pretenses or sexism. It’s
just not working. The
country needs a story
“
in Benjamin Button and
then do Cookie on Em-
pire. She has a wonderful
range of emotion.
Katherine is quiet, so-
phisticated, but she has
the spirit of Taraji, that
quiet fighter. I thought
she would nail it and she
did. She blows me away
every time I watch it.
What can I say about
Octavia Spencer? There’s
nothing she can’t do. I
was so excited to work
with her and when we
started working I said
‘now that’s the real deal’.
Janelle Monáe is like a
fighter and a voice for
everything that’s good.
She’s the spunk.
EH: What was your
greatest challenge while
co-writing this story and
bringing it to life?
TM: The greatest chal-
lenge was depicting the
work life and the home
life of these women.
I didn’t want to make
“Apollo 13” again. I want-
ed to make a movie about
how three African Amer-
ican women traversed
‘Get the girl to run the numbers, if she says
they’re good, they’re good to go’
about unity. I hope this
movie is that.
EH: You have some
powerful leading ladies
help bring this story to
life in Taraji P. Henson
(Katherine
Johnson),
Octavia Spencer (Doro-
thy Vaughn) and Janelle
Monáe (Mary Jackson).
What made them the
perfect cast for this film?
TM: I’ve wanted to
work with Taraji since
I saw Benjamin Button.
This woman can do Brad
Pitt’s southern mother
–Astronaut John Glenn
She lifts those up around
her which is who Doro-
thy Vaughn was.
Janelle Monáe is going
to blow you away as Mary
Jackson. Mary was the
fighter. She fought to get
into NASA and become
the first female engineer
there of any color. After
20 years she moved to
HR, hacked into the sys-
tem and found out wom-
en weren’t getting oppor-
tunities as fast or often
as women. She changed
the system and advanced
women of all colors. And
the civil rights land-
scape, and even more
powerfully sexism in the
workplace, and achieved
tremendous success and
put this man into space.
EH: How did your
Brooklyn
upbringing
shape your perspective
on race and the need for
equality?
TM: In Brooklyn you
don’t have time for rac-
ism. When you grow
up in Brooklyn your
neighborhood is a mix
See HIDDEN on page 11