Pharrell Williams has joined the production team of Fox’s “Hidden Figures,” the studio announced Tuesday.
The musician will join Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Ted Melfi, who is also directing.
Williams will write and create the original songs and will oversee all musical elements for the film and its soundtrack.
“Hidden Figures” tells the story of Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), African-American women who worked at NASA on the launch of astronaut John Glenn into space.
“After my producing partner Mimi Valdés and I heard about this project, we basically begged the producers and studio to allow us to participate,” Williams said. “This is an extraordinary story about black women with genius mathematical minds who contributed to American history. It takes place in Virginia, my home state, and at NASA, a place I’ve been obsessed with since childhood.”
The film also stars Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge and Kevin Costner. The screenplay is written by Alison Schroeder, Melfi and Lori Lakin Hutcherson, based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterley.
“Hidden Figures” will hit theaters on Jan. 13, 2017.