Now Playing
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Pharrell Williams, who is co-producer of the historical drama Hidden Figures, will find out Sunday if his movie will win an Oscar for Best Picture.
The critically acclaimed film also is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and one of its leading ladies, Octavia Spencer, has earned a supporting actress Oscar nod for her performance.
While he’s won 11 Grammys and been nominated for an Oscar before, Pharrell tells ABC News that being acknowledged among all of the other talented nominees is a prize in and of itself.
“It’s always the same for me. It’s always an honor. It’s always a pleasure, because people don’t have to accept you,” he says. “They don’t have to consider your work. So when you work on something that you’re passionate about, and it ends up getting this kind of acknowledgment, it’s mind-blowing.”
Pharrell also adds that the success of Hidden Figures was something that himself and the rest of the movie’s crew and cast was hardly anticipated.
“We didn’t expect this. We didn’t expect the culture impact, we didn’t expect the box office result,” he says. “So to be counted in the number of films that are being acknowledged this year, it’s an honor.”
The global superstar hopes that the success of the film will usher in a new era in which female-led stories about little-known topics are produced more often.
“I think we all collectively really hope that more people recognize that we need to start telling more stories, more female-oriented stories of the past, so we can acknowledge the female contribution over the span of humanity’s time and existence,” he says.
The 89th Academy Awards air Sunday on ABC.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
female-oriented moment oscar past pharrell ready start stories Telling williams
