Arriving in theaters this Wednesday, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Help brings to life Kathryn Stockett’s runaway best-seller with an ensemble cast that includes Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek.
Set in Mississipi during the 1960’s, The Help focuses on an oft-unsung side of the civil rights movement and the bond between African American maids and the children that they help raise. When an aspiring reporter (Stone) returns to her childhood home and doesn’t like what she sees, she convinces a neighbor’s maid, Aibileen (Davis), to help her put together a memoir that threatens to put the truth up against some societal boundaries – potentially at a significant cost.
ComingSoon.net sat down with the cast of the film as well as Stockett and director Tate Taylor (who have both been friends since early childhood) to talk about the book, the film and finding the truth of an era that is now often shamefully overlooked.
