Svetlana Cvetko, DanceCameraWest exec director Tonia Barber and I attended a UTA screening of Hidden Figures last night. Ted Melfi‘s film was introduced by Melissa McCarthy. After it ended costars Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer did a q & a with director-writer Melfi, and then everyone chit-chatted at a nearby reception. The big news was that last weekend Figures not only had a bountiful reception ($25 million and change) and managed to beat Rogue One for the #1 slot by $750K.

Sidenote #1: Besides being excellent as the big NASA honcho in Hidden Figures, Costner is tall. He was wearing cowboy boots but he has me by a good inch, and I’m just under 6′ 1″. Sidenote #2: Before driving back to his Carpinteria home, Costner mentioned his band, Modern West, and their 2012 album, “Famous For Killing Each Other: Music From and Inspired by Hatfields & McCoys.”


Hidden Figures costars Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner following last night’s UTA screening.