EXCLUSIVE: Glen Powell is in negotiations to play astronaut John Glenn and House Of Cards’ Mahershala Ali has also joined the cast in director Ted Melfi‘s Hidden Figures for Fox 2000. Ali will play castmember’s Taraji P. Henson’s love interest.
The film is about a team of unsung heroes in American history: African-American female math wizards who helped NASA win the space race. The project is an adaptation the Margot Lee Shetterly book and was optioned and developed by producer Donna Gigliotti, who is producing with Chernin Entertainment. The script is by Allison Schroeder.
The film stars Octavia Spencer, Henson and Janelle Monae as the trio of mathematicians who help out the space program. Kevin Costner and Kirsten Durst also star in the film which is eyeing a January 2017 release date.
Powell recently wrapped production on Fernando Coimbra’s Sand Castle and can next be seen in Richard Linklater’s Dazed And Confused follow-up which Everybody Wants Some! which just opened SXSW. Powell is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.
Ali, who was in The Hunger Games franchise films, just finished Free State Of Jones for STX and, of course, plays suave lobbyist Remy Danton on Netflix’s House of Cards. He is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.
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