With Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer already aboard, director Theodore Melfi has been busy finding other cast members for his new drama Hidden Figures. He's now landed Kevin Costner for a prime role, one that will reunite him with Spencer after they shared the screen in Black Or White.
Hidden Figures is, as the title might suggest, the untold story of the little-heralded female figures who played a crucial role in America's early days in orbit. Allison Schroeder is adapting Margot Lee Shetterly's book Hidden Figures: The Story Of The African-American Women Who Helped Win The Space Race, which is scheduled to arrive in stores this coming September.
It'll chronicle Katherine Johnson (Henson), the brilliant mathematician who with two female colleagues were the main brains behind John Glenn's first trip into space and back in 1962. People remember his being the first orbit of the Earth, now we'll properly learn who helped get him there.
Costner is on to play the head of the space program in the film, which is now in pre-production. He'll next be seen in memory-swapping thriller Criminal, due here on April 15.