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Nia Long is making 2020 her year.
Deadline reports that Long will star in Dreams of the Moon, a true-life story of a Black teenage girl who someday hopes to become an astronaut. The film is about a secret NASA Apollo 11 training mission in 1971, and Long is executive producing the film.
Dreams of the Moon was directed by Alfons Adetuyi and will co-star Eden Duncan-Smith, who starred in See You Yesterday, produced from Netflix and Spike Lee. Producing the film are Inner City Films and Spier Films, the two companies who partnered on Love Jacked, a romantic comedy. Producers on the film include Adetuyi and Michael Auret and in addition to Long, other executive producers include Cora Tonno, Lisa di Michele and Gary Shapiro.
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Dreams of the Moon is expected to start shooting in South Africa in April, Deadline reports.
Denis Foon wrote the screenplay.
In addition to Dreams of the Moon, Long is also starring on the big screen in The Banker, a drama about two of the first African-American bankers. She also recently finished wrapping up production on Netflix’s Fatal Affair, where she was a star and producer on the movie.
The timing of the announcement about Dreams of the Moon comes as NASA announced the passing of Katherine Johnson, the pioneering mathematician depicted in Hidden Figures. It is another opportunity to tell a story about the impact Black people have made in science.
READ MORE: Pioneering NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson of ‘Hidden Figures’ fame has died at 101
“We’re saddened by the passing of celebrated #HiddenFigures mathematician Katherine Johnson. Today, we celebrate her 101 years of life and honor her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers,” NASA posted on Twitter.
Women@NASA tweeted “Mathematician. Leader. Heroine. Katherine Johnson not only helped calculate the trajectories that took our Apollo astronauts to the Moon – she was champion for women and minorities in the space program and the world as a whole. We honor her memory today.”