Viola Davis has revealed that she regrets starring in the 2011 movie ‘The Help.’
Set during the Civil Rights Movement and based on Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel of the same name, the movie focusses on an aspiring writer named Skeeter, played by Emma Stone, who decides to write a book from the point of view of Aibileen Clark (Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), two black maids.
In response to readers’ questions for a New York Times article, Davis said that ‘The Help’ is on the list of films she regrets doing.
Davis explains: “I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom.
“And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
The actress clarified that her regrets working on the film do not extend to “the experience and the people involved because they were all great.”
She states: “The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than Tate Taylor.”
Aside from Stone and Spencer, the latter of whom earned the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in ‘The Help’ (Davis earned a nod in the same category, and would win the Oscar for ‘Fences’), some of the other cast members on the film include Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain and Allison Janney.
Davis next stars in ‘Widows’, which hits Irish cinemas on November 9th.
