I’m sure it looked that way.”įor Melfi, being recognized by a group of actors was particularly moving and satisfying. “It was a beautiful moment,” Melfi said of the SAG win. “Hidden Figures” proved to be a crowdpleaser early on, pulling in stellar reviews (it’s currently sitting at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes), a rare A+ CinemaScore and an opening weekend so massive that it actually beat out “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” for the top spot at the box office (the film has now made over $120 million, making it the highest-earning Best Picture nominee of the year).Īwards and nominations weren’t hard to come by either, but with the film’s recent and somewhat unexpected SAG win for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, “Hidden Figures” has become a bonafide contender. Taraji and I are sitting next to each other, holding each other.” I think I went from 0 to 100 to 0 and all over the place, sobbing. “It was a beautiful confluence of events for us. When we saw that 20 minutes, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I want to see everything.’ Seeing it all together, it just was so evocative of so many emotions. “We were all just emotional basket cases,” Octavia Spencer told IndieWire late last year. The marketing has to be different.”Īs terrifying as the prospect was for Melfi and his cast, they’ve all acknowledged that the door-busting TIFF event - which included a teary-eyed Q&A with its leading ladies and a musical performance by producer Pharrell - changed the trajectory of the film just in time for the kickoff of awards season. “‘You mean, you’re going to show 25 minutes of unfinished footage? To a film festival audience and press?’ That could have gone either way.”Īs Pharrell’s producing partner Mimi Valdes told us last fall, “This is an outside-of-the-box movie. “I was petrified of that,” Melfi admitted. We had no anticipation that it would ever be recognized the way it has been.” “Hidden Figures”Īlthough “Hidden Figures” didn’t take the traditional festival route, the studio hosted a special event during September’s Toronto International Film Festival, where Melfi and his cast debuted a series of unfinished scenes to a large audience. We didn’t do any festivals, we didn’t do any runs like that, we didn’t even screen the movie for the first time until November. “We came out very, very late, we were the last movie of all these movies to come out. “I don’t think anyone makes a movie thinking, ‘We’re going to be a contender,'” Melfi said. And it seems like the awards newbie is still trying to wrap his head around the possibilities for “Hidden Figures.” Vincent,” “Hidden Figures” is only Melfi’s second feature. A long-time producer who edged into filmmaking through a series of creative shorts and last directed the Bill Murray vehicle “St. He’s also trying not to get hung up on further awards possibilities. READ MORE: Why ‘Hidden Figures’ Is the Inspiring Awards Season Contender We Need Now - Consider This Inside Lizzo’s TV Takeover: ‘Put Some Respect on My Name’īut Melfi maintains that’s still not enough, and he’s ready to do more. His next film (which he will also be making with Fox 2000, who produced “Hidden Figures”) is entitled “Fruit Loops,” and is set in a mental institution and has already drawn comparisons to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Melfi said he intended the film to have a diverse cast and crew.
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