Interview : Wynn Thomas Takes Us Inside Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is the kind of uplifting film we need right now. It highlights the work of mathematicians at NASA in the 1960s who played a key role in the race to launch mankind into space. We’ve seen part of this story before, but what makes Hidden Figures special is that it features essential experts who are not just women, they’re African-American women. At the center of their team is Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) who works alongside her better-known male counterparts to help America catch up to the Russians and gain the upper hand in humanity’s first effort to leave Earth’s atmosphere.

It’s a rare occasion to see a story like this on film, with black actresses given the opportunity to play strong, intellectual women in central roles. Wynn Thomas worked with Theodore Melfi as the production designer to re-create the Space Task Group offices; the homes in Langley, Virginia where these women lived; and evoke the genesis of NASA in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

We spoke to Thomas about how he brought the look of that era to life.

Awards Daily: What were some of the initial conversations you had coming into this with Theodore Melfi?

Wynn Thomas: Always with your initial conversations, what you’re doing is the story and going through that. The script was very strong from the beginning, and when you have that, all the answers to what you’re trying to do are really there. The director is there to confirm your impressions of what it is you’re reading, or to talk about what they’re going to try to do differently than what’s in the script.

Ted and I had the same emotional response to the material, so collaborating was easy. The location scouting process was one of the easiest times I’ve had with a director in many years. Much of that came about was because we were on the exact same page. The challenge, of course, was to recreate 1960s NASA and Virginia in 2016 Atlanta, Georgia.

AD: What were some of the other challenges and can you elaborate more on that challenge?

WT: The NASA campus was a series of red brick buildings, and they had structures upon them. We found this college campus that was similar to that campus. The problem when you’re making this kind of movie is whether you’re going to design NASA realistically, or whether you’re going to stress the mythology of NASA. We decided to design the mythology of it, and by that, if I had designed it realistically, everything would have been in cinder block rooms and with low ceilings and artificial lighting. It would not have been an interesting film to look at. So, by taking the approach that we did which for me was to go larger with the rooms, but to keep the shape simple, helped provide the audience with a sense of wonder about NASA. That’s what we did with the Space Task room.

On Morehouse’s campus, there’s a building that is the student center, and it’s a great circular building and we chose to use that building as the exterior of the Space Task room, and as a result of that, it gave me the freedom to design that room as a circular room.

As a designer, I like taking the viewer and audience on the same journey as the character does in the film. When Katherine Johnson walks into that space, I wanted to get a sense that she was crossing into territory that was unfamiliar to her, but also wondrous. This is a world that she hasn’t been in before and that circular space allowed me to make choices that I would not have been able to make if I had gone into the traditional square or rectangular room. I used globes, I used circular maps and it allowed me to create a space where great work and great minds are at work. I know that’s what the actor felt, and I hope that’s what the audience felt when they see that for the first time.

AD: I absolutely felt the wonder. It’s also so different from the other rooms we see.

WT: That’s absolutely right. So, with the IBM room, again keeping the lines simple and graphic, and modern. That’s exactly what that room would have been. You get a sense that the world is beginning to change, and it’s far more graphically appealing.

AD: You also have them at home. Completely different. They’re in a different space, their characters are relaxed. What can you tell us about their homes?

WT: What I do on every movie that I work on is that I create a history for each character. It’s a history I share with the director. It also helps give definition to who each character is, and by doing that it helps me to tell the location people what it is that I’m looking for.

Living in the south during this time period was a difficult time for the African-American community, what I wanted to show was there was a strong sense of community in spite of the segregation, and that we as a community lived as well as we could in spite of the segregation. That also had an impact on the choices I made.

Katherine had a small, but modern brick house, but there’s a great warmth to the house. For Mary Jackson’s house, she was younger, highly spirited, and we used a lot of reds, and a clash of fabrics because she’s much more spirited. For Dorothy, the story I wanted to tell about her was that she was married to an undertaker. when you’re married to an undertaker in any community, you’re rich. By doing that, I was allowed to go very ranch style for her, and the furniture was very sophisticated because that’s who she would have been, in spite of the time.

This is a way of showing a side of African-American people that we haven’t seen before on screen. It was to show people how we lived because that is how we live. It was to show the sense of dignity and pride.

If you look closely at the artwork in her house, it’s very sophisticated. We live that way, but we don’t see those images very often on screen.

AD: That’s what I loved about this film was that you got to see these women in this positive light, and not be maids. Instead, we have something showing these positive women who made a mark on the world, and we’re learning about them.

WT: I think there are hundreds of stories out there, and my hope is that if this film is successful, we’ll be able to see more stories from a wide variety of communities. I think every group in America has these stories, but we don’t know about them. That’s my hope, that the industry will make more of these stories, celebrating who we are as Americans, and who we are as human beings.

AD: Did you have much creative freedom when you’re putting the sets together?

WT: Oh yes. My freedom is given to me by my director. A good director will allow every artist to bring their best work to the table and will create an environment for that work to take place in. Ted was great like that, Mandy Walker, the cinematographer was lots of fun. That fun turned into affection. There was just a great deal of respect, so it made for an easy collaborative relationship. You could express yourself without fear.

AD: What can you tell us about the various color palettes in the film because you’ve got these different sets and locations?

WT: In the world of NASA, the colors are controlled. You see mostly earth tones. It’s mostly brown. In the film, there’s an upstairs/downstairs quality to the world of NASA. Where the black women are working, it’s very subterranean, but there are stone surfaces.

The task room upstairs has richly stained woods, the surfaces are shiny. So, we use color and texture to show the difference between the two worlds. It’s all controlled.

It’s only when you get into the homes of the women, that’s when you see the colors because we’re stressing the warmth and humanity of them and how that would be reflected in each one of their homes. The color palette is richer at home.

AD: Your career is so rich and wide. How have you developed since you started?

WT: I have to say, it’s been an incredible ride. I’ve worked very hard, and I’ve been blessed with the wide variety of work I’ve been able to do over the course of my career.

The change I’ve noticed in myself is that at the beginning of my career, I was very controlling. I needed to know what that choice was before I started the job. I was very rigid about how I approached the material. Today, I’m much more open to letting accidents happen. I don’t come into projects with the notion of what it is that I’m wanting to do. So, now there’s a lot more freedom to me working nowadays because there’s a lot more accidents happening. I’ll do my research, but I don’t tell the location person that they have to find a certain type of room. I’m freer now in that I give broader outlines in what I think I want and leaving myself open to the possibilities that exist. It’s a lot more fun nowadays.

***SPOILER ALERT****

AD: What was the most satisfying moment for you to see?

WT: My favorite scene was the marriage proposal where the family has gathered and he’s asking Katherine to marry him. That scene makes the tears flow.

This is a scene that we’ve never seen with African Americans. There absolutely has never been a scene like that, anywhere.

AD: Isn’t that insane?

WT: It’s fantastic and it’s these great positive images. What’s great is you have this strong black man who is committing himself to this remarkably strong black woman and her family. It’s historic and really wonderful. I’m beyond proud to be working on something that is presenting that image.

Check out some of the photos Wynn Thomas shared with us