"It's catering to the white audience"
Viola Davis was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 2011's 'The Help'. However the actress has previously spoken about regretting her role in the drama.
'The Help' is set in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement and Viola Davis plays housemaid Aibileen Clark in the movie.
The feature follows a journalist named Skeeter, played by Emma Stone, as she writes a book from the point of view of two black maids, Aibileen and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer).
It has been criticised for marginalisation and its "white savior" narrative in recent years.
The movie was revisited in the wake of mass protests against the death of George Floyd.
Davis told Vanity Fair, which she features on the cover of this month: "There’s no one who’s not entertained by 'The Help'. But there’s a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasn’t ready to [tell the whole truth]."
She said the movie, like many others, was "created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism."
She also spoke of how 'The Help' reflects the problems of Hollywood's approach to Black narratives.
"Not a lot of narratives are also invested in our humanity," she said. "They’re invested in the idea of what it means to be Black, but…it’s catering to the white audience.
"The white audience at the most can sit and get an academic lesson into how we are. Then they leave the movie theater and they talk about what it meant. They’re not moved by who we were."
The actress is also renowned for her role on the TV series 'How to Get Away With Murder'.
She told the publication she had to do both TV and movies as she couldn't rely on the consistency of Hollywood for work.
She said when being asked about her movie career, she says: "I always ask them, What movies? What were those movies?
"Listen, I got 'Widows'. But if I just relied on the Hollywood pipeline…. No, there are not those roles."