Chris Columbus’ 1492 Productions has fast-tracked a screen adaptation of “The Help,” the best-selling Kathryn Stockett novel about African-American domestic servants and their wealthy white employers in Mississippi before the civil rights era.
Variety says that Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People) has written the script and will direct, while 1492 partners Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Michael Radcliffe will produce with Brunson Green of Harbinger Pictures.
The novel has been on the New York Times best-seller list for 35 weeks since its publication in February by Putnam imprint Amy Einhorn Books.
The plan is to put the film into production next spring in the South.
