Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for her performance in The Help, will star opposite Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures, a period race drama being directed by Ted Melfi.
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.
Allison Schroeder adapted the screenplay, which is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s book of the same name.
Chernin Entertainment with Donna Gigliotti (Silver Linings Playbook) is producing.
Spencer is one of the voices of Disney’s Zootopia and also wrapped The Gift, a drama directed by Marc Webb and starring Chris Evans.
She is repped by WME.
