“Hidden Figures” has grossed over $132 million at the domestic box office. Hollywood has trouble learning the lesson that female-led projects do well with audiences, but hopefully the film’s success means we’ll be seeing more stories about women, and especially women of color and those in STEM fields. “Hidden Figures’” warm — and lucrative — reception may have been a factor in the Sundance Channel’s decision to develop “Intuition,” a limited series from Anna Ziegler focused on a female scientist. According to Variety, the project is in “early development.”
Based on the 2006 best-selling book by Allegra Goodman, “Intuition” is told from the perspective of a female scientist working in an East Coast Lab. “The project is described as a modern examination of gender inequality in the male dominated field of scientific research,” Variety writes, and “would follow a scandal as it unfolds around the lead character, after her colleague claims he’s discovered the cure for cancer, setting off rivalries, jealousy, and accusations of fraud.”
In addition to penning the series, Ziegler will serve as executive producer along with Jeff Kwatinetz and Josh Barry of The Firm.
Ziegler is an award-winning playwright whose credits include “Photograph 51,” “Boy,” and “Actually.”
“Hidden Figures” is in theaters now. The drama is inspired by a true story and shines a well-deserved and long overdue spotlight on Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), brilliant African-American women who played an instrumental role in the space race while working at NASA. “Hidden Figures” is up for three Oscars: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress (Spencer).
The film, co-written by Allison Schroeder, has already inspired a scholarship contest for women in STEM, and as we previously reported, 20th Century Fox and Black Girls CODE have teamed up to create FutureKatherineJohnsons.com, a website that will be built by “the next generation of young women poised to make a difference in our world the same way that Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary [did].”
“Whale Rider” helmer Niki Caro — who was just named as the director of Disney’s live-action “Mulan” — is set to direct “Exposure,” an upcoming film centered on Rosalind Franklin, a trailblazing scientist whose work played an integral role in our understanding of DNA.
