Hidden figures. “Hidden figures” of the history of astronautics and IT Hidden figures real history

On the eve of Gagarin's flight, black female mathematicians Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Hanson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) work at a NASA center in Virginia. Since this is a segregated southern state, the heroines have to endure all sorts of humiliations related to their skin color. Dorothy is not promoted even though she actually supervises the "colored" calculations, Mary is unable to attend advanced training courses at the "white" college, and Catherine is forced to run to another building to relieve herself because her planning team is in the building where she works. flights, there are no “colored” toilets. Nevertheless, women faithfully serve the common cause. Their achievements begin to be noticed only when Gagarin's flight puts NASA under time pressure and the authorities have no time left to maintain racial discrimination.

Katherine Johnson is the only character in the film who is still alive.

According to the famous black comedian Whoopi Goldberg, she was amazed to the core when, as a girl in 1966, she saw Nichelle Nichols in the role of a communications officer on a spaceship in the TV series Star Trek. For the first time in her life, she saw on the screen a woman of her skin color who was engaged in a prestigious job, and not busy in the kitchen or sweeping the floor. Caryn Johnson (real name Goldberg) did not even suspect that by that time one of the leading mathematicians at NASA was her fellow tribesman and namesake, Katherine Johnson. Instead of glorifying Katherine and her group as role models for new generations of “colored” American women, the government suppressed their achievements. Years passed before the names of these women became widely known, even in the narrow circles of space enthusiasts.

Still from the film "Hidden Figures"

The film is based on the non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly. The writer's father was a NASA scientist, and from childhood she knew many of the heroines of her future work.

St. Vincent director Theodore Melfi's second feature is intended to highlight black women mathematicians and give them the respect they deserve. This is not a psychological drama that delves into the spiritual subtleties of women of the past, but almost like the lives of saints, which admires the talent, drive and enterprise of the main characters.

Still from the film "Hidden Figures"

True, the film was shot in a tragicomic vein, and the heroines sometimes look ridiculous. But this absurdity is due to the insane rules that are imposed on the heroines. Let's say Katherine has to trot to the toilet with an armful of papers, because the trip back and forth takes more than half an hour, and no one will do a woman's work for her. Dorothy is forced to steal a book on programming from the library, since books from the “white” department are not given to blacks, and the “colored” department does not have the necessary manual. So when the film puts the heroines in stupid situations, it is not mocking them, but rather racism, the representatives of which are shown with much less sympathy. Katherine's direct boss, played by Jim Parsons, is petty and nasty, and Kirsten Dunst plays Dorothy's boss as a prim "Southern lass" who can express all her contempt for the descendants of her family's slaves with one curl of her lips.

Still from the film "Hidden Figures"

Fortunately, Hanson and Spencer are talented character actresses, and their flamboyance is more than enough to turn the "statue saints" into lively, entertaining women who are fun to root for no matter what they do. Monáe copes with this task worse, since she is more traditionally beautiful, but her role is less significant than that of her partners. Besides, no movie has ever suffered from a sexy mathematician with smart eyes. And, by the way, although Monáe is primarily known as a pop-funk performer, she never gives any doubt that she belongs in a movie where she doesn’t have to sing or dance provocatively.

It’s clear that in Russia we don’t really care about who calculated the orbits of the first American manned flights and programmed the first American powerful computers. But Hidden Figures is valuable and interesting because it reflects how legal and pervasive racism was in the United States just half a century ago. It is impossible to understand current American tensions without such history lessons, and Hidden Figures also portrays Americans in the unusual role of catching up and never catching up (the flight to the moon remains outside the scope of the story). So the film greatly amuses our national pride and at the same time tells a positive, sometimes very funny and quite universal story about people who defend their rights not with rallies and idle talk, but with such impeccable work that even their personal enemies by the end of the film reluctantly recognize their contribution to astronautics. Although the heroines do not need recognition - they know their worth.

After the space launches of Sputnik, dogs and the dummy of Ivan Ivanovich, NASA, like a real zombie, reached out to its women of color with a guttural groan: “Brains, we need brains!” Because there was a categorically urgent need for intellectual resources, but different people’s brains are colored the same (and if suddenly someone has brown matter in their head instead of white, it doesn’t depend on skin color).

Almost two centuries ago, the world's first programmer was Ada Lovelace, a gifted mathematician, daughter of the poet George Byron; Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine had not yet been built (even a working model was constructed only half a century after Lady Lovelace's death), but the Countess had already written a program for it. During World War II, the women who worked on Alan Turing's Bomb and Colossus codebreaking machines were essentially part of the computer. Another ten years later, “living computers” worked at NACA, which later turned into NASA - one of the heroines of the biographical “Hidden Figures” was so nicknamed for the speed and accuracy of calculations. And the other heroine, when real computers - monstrous IBMs - were brought to replace her mathematics department, she retrained as a programmer, and on her own, secretly and semi-legally, with elements of theft and unauthorized entry. Desperate times call for desperate measures! Some people found themselves forced to cooperate with those with whom it was painful for them to sit next to and drink from the same coffee pot; others are not running a simple career race, but with constantly added obstacles and a delayed finish. Inside the space race, there was another one - a career-social one.

Despite all the obstacles that the protagonists had to jump over and climb on the way to their goal, the film turned out to be neither tear-jerking nor even particularly moralizing. On the contrary, it encourages, encourages you to actively root for the heroines and not give up, and also gives many reasons for fun: just look at the aphoristic remarks or the Soviet poster with Nikita Khrushchev “To work, comrades!” hanging in the main mathematics department of NASA. Universality is also present, the authors made the film not for two groups of the American population, saying: “We sympathize with you - but let you be ashamed, ashamed, ashamed!”, but for the whole world. Almost any newcomer who gets a job in a not very friendly team can try on the problems of heroines. And for greater clarity, the authors introduced a toilet joke (in the literal sense) - more precisely, a half-joking, half-serious disclosure of segregation using the example of a toilet. Because not everyone can relate to a mathematical problem, but anyone can relate to a toilet problem. The joke went on for quite some time, and the method wasn’t all that subtle - but it worked.

What else is close to people around the globe? Romantic stories. It was impossible to make a film about women without a love story. For the sake of tender feelings, the plot redrawn the facts and tied them in knots. The problem is not even sweetness, but the fact that the film, which talks, among other things, about the importance of accurate calculations, cheats with numbers - dates and ages. And she does it with the grace of pimping friends - that is, zealously and almost openly. In reality, career and matrimonial successes were achieved years before John Glenn's flight; in the film, it is this first orbital flight for American astronauts that acts as the axis of rotation to which everything else is pulled, and forty-year-old Glenn himself is played by a twenty-seven-year-old handsome man. The children of the heroines are also rejuvenated: instead of healthy foreheads, cute babies are shown. In addition to emotion, the suspense was artificially intensified: yes, the astronauts did not really trust computer calculations, because they were still new, and glitches and bugs sometimes happened, so Glenn actually asked a female mathematician to double-check everything the old fashioned way - but not before the launch .

In a word, the authors did not skimp on plot compactors and artistic decorations of reality. Catching them red-handed undermines the credibility of the story as a whole - but it is still true: Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson actually existed, Johnson is still alive. Each of them became the first in their own way - and without giving up “classical” values ​​like marriage and motherhood for this, but combining everything with the dexterity of a circus juggler. One such heroine could still be considered a rare exception - but together they form a system. The color constellation is not discriminatory, but in the literal sense of the word: it is not without reason that the multi-colored outfits, warm colors and even the white and turquoise car of the heroines stand out against the muted gray-metallic background of the “white” part of NASA. But you can’t hide something truly bright.

After centuries of slavery and discrimination, the pendulum swung to the other extreme, this is reflected in cinema: not only have there become more colored, female and non-traditionally oriented characters, but often already established images undergo a change in color, gender, and orientation. Such operations, instead of increasing tolerance, risk causing a “reverse” effect. But “Hidden Figures” takes a different path and shows not the replacement of one repression by another, but unification: connections of mutual understanding and cooperation are established between a white astronaut and a colored mathematician, a white boss and a colored subordinate, a white judge and a colored plaintiff, white female mathematicians and colored women -mathematicians, and so on. The film reminds us that races are not individual, but team and mixed. And that the desire to see the invisible, to look beyond, to be first does not depend on gender or skin color.

Well, a bonus for fans of Soviet cosmonautics: of course, the first of the “red” team are shown - repeatedly and with documentary footage. After all, what better motivates you to defeat yourself and jump above your head than competition with a strong opponent? It is quite fair that the story of cosmic and near-cosmic firsts includes not only Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, but also Yuri Gagarin, Ivan Ivanovich and Chernushka. And whoever disagrees is a malicious film-phobe and a violator of the rights of mannequins, that’s right.

A long time ago, even before the advent of computers, humanity still needed to solve complex computing problems. And there was no other option but to gather people, organize them into a team and let them calculate this task manually. Such people were called calculator; they calculated navigation problems, trigonometric tables and tables of logarithms, strength of materials and much more. Calculators, or rather calculators, because in the 20th century the majority of them were women, provided atomic, rocket and space programs on both sides of the ocean. And now, on the eve of International Women's Day, I would like to remind you of one interesting film showing forgotten pages of the history of computer technology and astronautics.

Based on real events

Actors and prototypes

The plot of the film is based on the real biographies of three African-American women who worked at NASA.

Katherine Johnson(Katherine Johnson). Born August 26, 1918 in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia. Since childhood, she has proven herself to be a brilliant mathematician. She was one of the first three African Americans (and the only woman) to be admitted to the best university in the state, but after getting married, she left her first year. She gave birth to three children. She began working as a calculator at the Langley Research Center in 1953. In 1956, her husband died of cancer, and she married a second time in 1959. In 1957, she performed calculations for the work “Notes on Space Technologies,” based on lectures by engineers from flight study groups and unmanned aerial vehicles. These engineers became the backbone of the Space Task Force, and Katherine joined it as well. In 1960, she became the first woman co-author of a document describing calculations of the orbit of a celestial body taking into account the landing point (it is now available on the NASA website). Performed calculations for the first US manned missions, the Apollo and Space Shuttle flights. She retired from NASA in 1986. In 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Mary Jackson(Mary Jackson). Born April 9, 1921. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she worked as a mathematics teacher, but, having changed several professions, in 1951 she ended up in the group of calculators in the Western region of NACA. In 1953, she moved to the department working with the supersonic wind tunnel. In 1958, she became the first African American female engineer at NASA. She had a brilliant engineering career, but, having hit a glass ceiling, she could not rise higher to the level of manager, so in 1979 she was demoted to the Federal Women's Program at Langley Center, where she recruited and promoted the next generation of women engineers at NASA. She left in 1985. She was married and gave birth to two children. She died on February 11, 2005.

Dorothy Vaughn(Dorothy Vaughan). Born September 20, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. She got married in 1932 and gave birth to six children. She worked as a mathematics teacher. In 1943, two years after President Roosevelt's Order 8802, which prohibited racial, ethnic and religious discrimination in the defense industry, she took what she thought was a temporary job at Langley as a calculator processing aerodynamics data. She worked in a specially created segregated group of accountants in the Western region, which included only non-white employees. In 1949, she became team leader, the first African American and one of the few women in this position. When NACA was transformed into NASA in 1958, the segregation of calculation groups was abolished, and a new Analysis and Computation Division was formed without division by skin color. When computers appeared at NASA, she became a FORTRAN programmer and participated in the Scout rocket program. She retired from NASA in 1971 and died on November 10, 2008.

Materiel and physics

Despite the fact that NASA participated in the creation of the film, alas, the technical side is shown so-so, with rather serious blunders. One can forgive the incorrect display of the flight direction, separation cyclogram and operation of the third stage of the Soviet Vostok launch vehicle, but offensive errors are also visible when showing American technology. The biggest is the fictitious tail section of the Redstone launch vehicle.

Still from the film

The filmmakers are clearly confused about the design of the rockets, because the tail section with two engines is separated not from Redstone, but from the Atlas launch vehicle. Her flight is also in the film, but for some reason they show documentary footage of the separation of the second stage of the Titan-2 launch vehicle, which launched the next generation ships, Gemini.

The importance of determining the Mercury landing area as accurately as possible is also unnecessarily exaggerated. In reality, rescue services were deployed over a fairly large area in case of unpleasant surprises, and astronaut Carpenter’s miss four hundred kilometers from the calculated point did not prevent him from being found after just about an hour.

At the same time, the story of the calculations for John Glenn's flight is real. Often the first computers froze and crashed, they were not very trusted, and Glenn personally asked Katherine Johnson to manually carry out calculations using the same formulas and data. "If she says it's okay, I'm ready to go," Glenn said. The results of computer and human calculations coincided.

In a scene labeled "Redstone Unmanned Tests," more missiles explode. Also, Glenn’s flight was not shortened; he flew off the planned three orbits. The phrase “you have a go at least 7 orbits”, actually spoken in reality, does not mean permission to fly seven orbits, but that the orbit after separation from the rocket is high enough, and there is no need to urgently land on the first or second orbit so as not to bury yourself into the atmosphere in a random place. And, finally, the American Mission Control Center was physically unable to track the first minutes of Gagarin’s flight in real time, receiving telemetry from the rocket, and the mission diagram there is shown for Mercury, but not Vostok.

A little splint

Some events in the film were compressed and re-dramatized to create a single and cohesive picture. In fact, some episodes occurred at a different time or were absent from reality.

The film takes place in 1961-1962. In reality, there have been no segregated accounting units since 1958, when NACA was transformed into NASA. The Analysis and Calculations Division, where the heroines worked, was racially integrated.

Overall, time in the film was compressed and NASA's organizational structure was simplified. The fictional Al Harrison combined the head of the Space Working Group, Robert Gilruth, and the flight director, Chris Craft.

The story of having to run far to use a segregated toilet is distorted and exaggerated. In reality, it was not Katherine who faced a similar problem, but Mary. Katherine used unmarked toilets for years until someone noticed. And even after a dissatisfied person was found, she ignored the complaint and continued to use the same toilet room. In an interview, the real Katherine said that she did not feel segregation at NASA. "Everyone was busy doing research. You had a task and you did your job. And you also played bridge at lunchtime. I knew there was segregation, but I didn't feel it," Katherine said.

And the plot device with the dismantling of the “whites only” sign using improvised means not only did not happen in reality, but even became a reason to condemn the film - some critics saw in it a “white savior” template, something completely opposite to the spirit of the film.

Mary Jackson did not need to go to court to obtain a higher education. In reality, she applied to the mayor's office for a special permit and received it.

Mercury flights were controlled by the control center not at Langley, but at Cape Canaveral. Houston's Mission Control Center began working only on the Gemini missions.

Actors

Personally, I have almost no complaints about the acting, with one exception. Jim Parsons' character looks like Sheldon has been transported back in time, and this somewhat detracts from the overall effect. I would like to hope that in future films he will be able to break out of this image.

The actors were chosen well, except that Glenn, in my opinion, looks bad, but these are minor things.

On the other side of the ocean

In Soviet memoirs you can find references to our female accountants who did the same work. It is curious that Boris Khristoforov in his memoirs “Memoirs of a Physics Engineer” writes that the calculation workers received higher awards than the participants in atomic tests. Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko, the future cosmonaut, supervised the calculations and recalls how, when calculating the trajectory of the rocket to launch the first satellite, he had to switch from Bradis tables (you could still find them at school) to more accurate Khrenov tables. Electromechanical calculating machines were not able to calculate trigonometric functions, and the fourth digit affected the result - the rocket began to oscillate, then lifting its nose, then lowering it below the horizon. Forced to do more calculations, the calculators rebelled, and the issue was resolved at a trade union meeting, at which they were convinced that calculations using Bradis tables, suitable for military missiles, were no longer suitable here. Calculators and calculators are also mentioned in the book “Space Begins on Earth” by B.A. Pokrovsky.

Conclusion

Despite some popular prints and inaccuracies that could have been avoided, the film is recommended for viewing and is valuable for its story about interesting episodes from the history of astronautics, computer technology and the life of American society.

The film tells the story of how, on the eve of the triumph of Soviet competitors, workers in the American space industry feverishly tried to catch up and overtake the Soviets, who were rushing forward and upward. But, as one extremely popular Russian pop singer once sang, something is not right, and it’s not clear what.

This, however, is not at all surprising: taking into account the general intellectual level of the agency’s employees, under the leadership of the fair, but also narrow-minded Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), they cannot be trusted to launch, let alone rockets into space, a tram along a route of two stops. This is especially clearly illustrated by the character of Jim Parsons - a research assistant who mostly sits as if waiting for the usual off-screen laughter, and the rest of the time he is simply dumb or frowns in concentration.

But, as they say, everything changes when they come - three lively black women (Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer) occupying modest technical positions. Only this cheerful, energetic and very, very smart trio can save the unfortunate sharashka from a complete fiasco. They will calculate the required figure with the speed of a calculator, and get along with the complex latest supercomputer (by stealing the necessary textbook from the library - they don’t just give books to black women, even the very, very smart ones who work at NASA), and in general the entire star project that has reached a dead end on their fragile backs will be pulled out.

They, most likely, would have been able to outrun the USSR - but racism, coupled with chauvinism, got in the way. Judge for yourself - what kind of championship in space is it when the only employee in the department who is capable of thinking has to run to the toilet on the other side of town to the sound of peppy music? That's it.

Matching the film's caricature of the very dark theme of segregation in the United States is its climax. It involves the ceremonial destruction of a “racist” sign on the bathroom door, the result of Harrison’s sudden realization that the efficiency of one black employee is higher than the productivity of all his white subordinates combined. And the boss wielding a crowbar at this moment looks - and clearly feels like - Abraham Lincoln, no more and no less. All this is done with such a deadly serious mien that the comic effect is instantly tripled.

The film, as stated, is based on real events, and the disclaimers before the end credits serve as confirmation of this. It is clear that there is no smoke without fire, and the contribution of talented women, but oppressed by an unjust society, to the development of American astronautics is certainly worthy of universal admiration. And the shameful page of history for the United States (which was never completely turned over) undoubtedly requires comprehensive study.

Only the “progressive public”, headlong

“Yes, they allow women to do some things at NASA...”

“Kevin is a key figure at NASA and is based on several individuals, including then-NASA Administrator James Webb,” explains director Melfi. “These guys were extremely interested in launching Americans into space, and therefore they understood better than others the need to attract new personnel and develop technology. They welcomed anyone who could help them work towards a safe launch into orbit."

Melfi continues: “We were thrilled when Kevin joined us; his responsiveness, talent and energy gave a lot to our film. He has a special personality, and a team is instantly created around him, picking up his spirit. He comes to work with the goal of being useful - to his fellow actors, to the image he creates, to the story he tells. In my opinion, he just can't do anything wrong."

Costner was immediately interested in the script. He, like others, was greatly impressed by the story itself. “We know that the United States was created by the efforts of extraordinary people, but it is surprising that people who have done so much for the country do not always receive what they deserve, remaining in obscurity,” he notes. “The names of these women may not have become the property of the whole world, but they were very important for the space program, for the lives of real people and for all of us.”

He was also attracted by the idea of ​​entering a world where outsiders are rarely allowed - the behind-the-scenes of NASA, where work was carried out on amazing space launches and flights. “Scientists and engineers are a different breed,” Costner notes. “So the key challenge for this role was to recognize what Al Harrison was up against: he wanted to bring some of the brightest, sharpest minds to NASA to work together on a vision whose very feasibility was in question.” Yes, there was a goal: to get into space. But Harrison had to figure out how to bring all these different people together to work toward the same goal."

Costner realized it wasn't easy. “The reality is that when you put a bunch of talented scientists in one place, they tend to be very individualistic and may not get along with each other. Many scientists are so immersed in their studies that they become “myopic” and do not notice other people. And people like Harrison not only need to come up with solutions to mathematical problems, but also deal with manifestations of human envy, indifference and bias,” he explains.

The hero is also motivated by the desire to surpass the USSR - at the height of balancing on the brink of nuclear war, it was very significant. “A lot of it had to do with good old-fashioned competition,” Costner notes.

The Hidden Side of NASA: Decorations

"" takes viewers into a world they've never seen before - a remote, segregated division of NASA known as West Computing, whose existence in Southern Virginia in the early 1960s was coupled with the enforcement of Jim Crow laws. To portray this hidden side of NASA's and the nation's history, director Ted Melfi hired a crack team led by cinematographer Mandy Walker, production designer Wynne Thomas, editor Peter Teschner, and costume designer Renee Kalfus.

“Visually, the film manages to capture something special about the beauty of these women, their families, their lives,” says Jenno Topping. - All this had to be approached with great caution, so Wynn, Renee and Mandy showed themselves
like true masters of their craft."

Melfi was especially keen to have the film shot by a female cinematographer - of which there are still few in Hollywood. “I don’t understand why there are so few women directors of photography,” the director comments. - Mandy has a brilliant aesthetic sense and a trained eye, she sees beauty. She doesn't need any tricks - she just finds a natural, raw shot with the most effective and organic lighting."

From the outset, Walker and Melfi talked about the iconic photographers of the period, in particular Saul Leiter, a pioneer of the so-called New York school of photography, which favored bright, colorful street scenes imbued with the humanism of the everyday. They also discussed Melfi's original concept.

“For me, the key word that characterizes the meaning of this film was the word “through.” Everything happens “through”. Women have to overcome obstacles of racial and gender discrimination. USA, to strive through space into space,” explains Melfi. “So we planned to use the camera to shoot through doorways, windows, whatever.

We sought to see beauty and feeling through things. We didn’t go too far, but whenever possible we showed things that way.” Melfi and Walker also decided to shoot on film rather than using a digital camera, which was more in keeping with the spirit of the era when calculations for the space program were done by hand on paper. He also asked Walker
work with warm shades. “I was really excited when Ted told me he wanted to shoot on film,” says Walker. “We understood that we would have a wonderful play of shades of color and light.”

To highlight the visual appeal of the era, Walker also uses vintage lenses.

“We used old Panavision Anamorphic lenses, and we shot on old stock Kodaks,” she explains.

Walker worked closely with production designer Thomas. Thomas says: “We had a lot of ideas for the visual aspect of the film. We spent a lot of time looking at photographs from that era and discussing composition. When you shoot on film, you need a lot more light, so we had to work very closely to get the right light for Mandy's wonderful cinematography.”

Thomas, who designed the sets for A Beautiful Mind, which also features mathematics, began his work with intensive research. “I looked through countless photographs of NASA buildings and facilities from that era, as well as various materials from home archives,” he says. “We wanted not only to convey the spirit of the times, but also to help get to know the characters better by showing their surroundings.”

He admits that when portraying East and West Computing at NASA, they sometimes stretched the reality a little to make the film's visuals more attractive. “We weren't trying to recreate NASA exactly. We
We were trying to recreate the spirit of NASA at that time, which is a different matter,” explains Thomas.

Thomas and Walker were especially focused on creating the special, heady atmosphere of the Special Space Group when Katherine Johnson was finally invited to join the elite team of leading aerospace engineers.

“Joining the Special Space Task Force completely changed Katherine's life, so we wanted to create a space that felt like there was a different, bigger, more meaningful life, so that Katherine felt a little overwhelmed and overwhelmed by entering this high-tech world that had previously seemed out of reach for her. her."

While filming in Atlanta, Thomas enjoyed using the Morehouse College buildings as a backdrop for NASA facilities. The layout of the NASA Research Center resembled a university campus, so the filmmakers liked the idea of ​​using one of the oldest black universities in the country for location filming. Its buildings were featured in the film, including the circular Frederick Douglas Hall. “This round building dominates the architectural ensemble of the university campus, so we decided to use it as a building to house the Special Space Group. In reality, the Space Task Force did not work in a circular room, but our solution allowed us to make the space more visually interesting,” notes Thomas.

Melfi was pleased with Thomas' work. “Everything Wynn touches changes like magic,” he says. “It’s clear to see how attentive he is to the details he uses. Wynn skillfully played on the contrast between the East and West Computing groups. East Computing appears neat, cozy and bright, while West Computing is located in a dirty and gloomy basement, with various units piled up everywhere. Wynn did it all on instinct - but that's exactly how it was supposed to be."

At the same time, costume designer Renee Kalfus immersed herself in the fashion of the American South of the early 60s, trying to adapt it to the image of the heroines. “It's so great to work on a film where you have three incredible female characters and the opportunity to create a distinct style for each of them,” says Kalfus. - We used original kits, sewed something in the studio, and selected vintage items. I looked through more than one ton of clothing catalogs of that time. We had several Sears and Wards publications and other magazines at our disposal, which was a good help.”

As for Katherine, it was important to Kalfus that her clothes looked handmade, which is what they actually were. “It's part of Katherine's story, part of who she is, so it was very important to us to present handmade clothing as part of her character,” notes Kalfus.

Kalfus had all three lead actresses wear corsets to embody the spirit of the era, with her graceful and taut poses, and to reflect the West Computing women's desire to be flawless. "A corset changes your posture," Kalfus says. - He brings a certain severity to his demeanor and even slows down his movements somewhat. We felt like it would really help Taraji, Octavia and Janelle immerse themselves in that era."

Melfi gave Kalfus complete freedom of action. “I trusted Reni completely with the entire process,” comments Melfi. - She has a rationale and meaning for each costume. She always starts with the question: “Why is the character wearing these clothes? What does she say about this man? And you see the answers in her work.”

All these details became rich substrate for the actors. Kevin Costner says, “When you walk on set and feel that realistic atmosphere, it does a lot for an actor. It helps you work, it helps you immerse yourself in the story.”

The filmmakers hope that audiences will experience the same feeling. “It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and passion to make any film,” notes Jenno Topping, “and that couldn’t be more true for Hidden Figures.” We all felt a responsibility to pay tribute to the real people the film is about. And it brings an added purpose to our work: We hope that audiences will learn about and love these remarkable women.”

Dynamic soundtrack

Ted Melfi was thrilled that ten-time Grammy Award winner Pharrell Williams not only served as producer, but also had a direct creative role in the film, collaborating with nine-time Oscar nominee and legendary Hans Zimmer and writing several original songs for the film. soundtrack.

“We started talking about music, and I was just in awe of Pharrell and his passion for the subject,” Melfi says. “Farrell is a big fan of science and an advocate for women's empowerment, so he was perfect for our story.” And his music is great."

In music, Williams has always been drawn to the rhythms of the 60s. "When we first met, he immediately said, 'I have an idea,'" Melfi recalls. “He kept sending us test tapes, and every time I thought: damn, this is just amazing. I really feel like his music for the film resonates with his heart."

Williams talks about how excited he was about the project: “The story really interested me, and I was very conscious that the musical plan had to match it. I hope my songs reflect their inspiration."

Williams' original song "Runnin'" is heard as Katherine G. Johnson runs to find the colored restroom after her transfer to an elite NASA unit. “Being a man, I still tried really hard to put myself in Katherine's shoes in that song,” Williams says. - And I must say that it is difficult. I had to try to imagine what painful feelings reigned in her soul, and express it - in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to illustrate her experiences with my music and intonation.”

Another original song, “I See A Victory,” was written by Pharrell Williams and Kirk Franklin and performed by prominent gospel singer Kim Burrell, known for her unusually powerful voice and signature style that combines soul-jazz and R&B with the traditional uplifting gospel sound. The soundtrack also features the voices of Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Lalah Hathaway and Janelle Monáe, who played in the film.

This remarkable opportunity to tell the story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson through music was a true celebration for Williams - as it was an inspiration for everyone involved in the film's production.

In summary, Melfi says, “What brought us together was the story of how so many people at NASA—black and white, men and women—came together for a great purpose, setting aside all differences. Was it difficult? Yes, sure. Was it awkward? Yes of course. How long did it take? Yes many. But when people come together and work as equals, great things happen.”

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS

KATHERINE JOHNSON (played by Taraji P. Henson)

Mathematician, physicist and astronautical scientist, Katherine Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918. She became one of the brightest minds of her generation. Even in early childhood, her brilliant mathematical abilities were manifested in her masterly handling of numbers. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, Johnson attended West Virginia State College and graduated with honors.

She became the first African American woman to enroll in graduate school at West Virginia University when the state abolished racial segregation for graduate school in 1930. Originally a teacher, Johnson was hired as a "living computer" at NASA's Langley Research Center in 1953. She was subsequently assigned to the Flight Research Division, where she became an indispensable specialist in calculations for the orbital trajectories of the first Mercury flights. Johnson performed trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard, the first American to fly in space. Her calculations contributed to the success
the historic Friendship 7 mission, when astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. One of the first IBM computers was used to calculate Glenn's flight orbit, but its data was not accurate, so before launch Glenn insisted that the “girl” (meaning Johnson) manually check the numbers. The successful flight marked a turning point in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Subsequently, the “star” mathematician worked on calculations for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon in 1969, as well as for the Space Shuttle and an artificial satellite for studying natural resources.

Johnson had three daughters from her first marriage to James Goble, who died in 1956. In 1959, she married Colonel James Johnson. In 2015, Katherine Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her by President Obama.

DOROTHY VAUGHN (played by Octavia Spencer)

Dorothy Vaughn was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1910. She was a gifted child who excelled academically and musically. Her family moved to West Virginia when she was eight. At the age of 15, Vaughn won a full scholarship to Wilberforce University in Ohio. Married Howard Vaughn. Mother of six children. She worked as a school teacher before joining Langley Research Center as a "living computer" in the 1940s. She was promoted to a leadership position and became the first black executive at NASA.

A steadfast advocate for her employees, Vaughn dedicated herself to fighting for promotions and higher pay for both black and white female computer workers. With the advent of the first electronic computers at NASA, Vaughn was able to understand that the profession of a living computer would soon disappear. Having managed to adapt to new realities, she took up programming, becoming an expert in Fortran (a computer programming language). Vaughn also encouraged women in her department to study to become programmers in order to keep their jobs. She joined
to the newly formed Computing Department (RBO), a racially and gender integrated group at the forefront of electronic computing. Dorothy Vaughn died in 2008.

MARY JACKSON (played by Janelle Monáe)

Mary Jackson was born in Hampton, Virginia in 1921. She received a degree in mathematics and physics from Hampton Institute. Married Levi Jackson Sr. Mother of two children. Initially she worked as a teacher. A talented mathematician, Jackson began her career at NASA as a "living computer." Jackson's brilliant engineering skills did not go unnoticed, and NASA engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki suggested that she take a training program that would allow her to qualify as an engineer.

Showing resilience and courage, she sought legal permission to attend a segregated white school and take the college courses needed to become an engineer at NASA. After winning the battle and completing her training, Jackson moved on to become NASA's first black female aerospace engineer, as well as the first black female engineer in the United States. She participated in the women's rights movement and subsequently even took a demotion to become a human resources manager. Among the awards she received was the Award for her participation in Project Apollo. For three decades, Jackson was a passionate Girl Scout leader. She died in 2005.

Watch the trailer for the film “Hidden Figures” in Russian online