Octavia Spencer

JESSICA CHASTAIN: CALIFORNIA GIRL DOES THE RIGHT THING

We are SO proud of Jessica Chastain’s contribution to the women’s movement. Octavia Spencer revealed at a Sundance panel that Jessica fought to get her equal pay. Jessica and Octavia were planning to do a comedy together and Jessica didn’t realize that women of color had an even harder time negotiating equal pay. Jessica re-negotiated her deal AS A PAIR with Octavia and they were paid more money as a unit. Octavia got 5 times as much money as she originally asked for. Most Important: Jessica said “MEN SHOULD BE DOING THIS WITH FEMALE COSTARS!” Great idea! Did you hear that, Mark Wahlberg?

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

HIDDEN FIGURES: IT’S MORE THAN ROCKET SCIENCE

The holidays always bring out the best of the movies and this season is a bonanza. Our favorite holiday movie so far is Hidden Figures. It’s the true story of three brilliant black female friends and their amazing – and unheralded – contributions to the NASA Space Race. Taraji P Henson plays a mathematics genius turned physicist and space scientist whose calculations helped John Glenn orbit the earth and return safely. Octavia Spencer plays a forward-thinking computer programmer who worked on the IBM original, and Janelle Monae’s character fought prejudice to earn a degree in engineering. Most of all, this film shows what life was like in the business/government world in Virginia in the 60’s. Women were treated badly and black women faced unimaginable situations, the least of which was bathrooms labeled White Only. White male superiority prevailed and shameful treatment of everyone else was tolerated. Despite the subject, this film is funny and sweet and romantic – entertaining AND important.