The Help is a 2011 period drama film written and directed by Tate Taylor, and based on Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast, including Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson, and Sissy Spacek.
The film and novel center the lived experiences of underpaid, skilled Black domestic servants, in particular Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, in 1960s Mississippi and how their lives intersect with that of a young white woman, aspiring journalist Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan.
Skeeter, having been hired as a replacement home maintenance and cleaning advice columnist - with no knowledge on the subject asks a friend if she can get tips for the column from her maid, Aibileen. Shortly after she overpromises to a potential employer, an editor in New York, a meaningful story from the perspective of female Black domestic workers in 1960s United States, who were referred to as "the help", hence the eponymous title of the journalistic exposé, the novel, and the film."
A heartbroken Aibileen eventually agrees to interviews, so long as measures are taken for safety due to the heinous punishments meted out for activities approaching this nature in the South. She also agrees to try to convince others to speak, focusing on her best friend Minny. At this pivotal moment in 1963, when the Civil Rights Movement in Jackson, MS, is at a fever pitch, one event that ignites others to join Aibileen and Minny is the assassination of Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers.
In her bid to become a legitimate journalist and writer, Skeeter lends her literary knowledge and voice to those she recognizes as oppressed, mistreated, underappreciated by white society, and yet also loved by some; she collaborates with these women to write a book from the point of view of the maids, their stories expose the racism and discrimination they face as they work for white families, the love they give to the children they care for, and the meaningfulness of respect and kindness even if given under hidden circumstances.
DreamWorks Pictures acquired the screen rights to Stockett's novel in March 2010 and quickly commissioned the film with Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, and Brunson Green as producers. The film's casting began later that month, with principal photography following four months after in Mississippi. The film is an international co-production between companies based in the United States, India, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Help premiered at the Jackson suburb of Madison, Mississippi, on July 30, 2011, and at Beverly Hills on August 9, 2011, and went into general theatrical release in North America on August 10, 2011, with distribution by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the Touchstone Pictures label. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $221.8million worldwide and receiving generally positive reviews from critics. The Help received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Davis, and Best Supporting Actress for both Chastain and Spencer, with Spencer winning the award. The film also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Plot
In 1963, Aibileen Clark is an African-American domestic worker in Jackson, Mississippi, working for socialite Elizabeth Leefolt. She raises Elizabeth's daughter, two-year-old Mae Mobley, who is emotionally neglected due to postpartum depression Elizabeth suffered following Mae's birth. Aibileen's best friend, Minny Jackson, works for an elderly Mrs. Walters and her manipulative daughter Hillary "Hilly" Holbrook, who leads the Jackson chapter of the Junior League.
Elizabeth and Hilly's friend Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is an unmarried aspiring writer and recent graduate of Ole Miss, who has been rejected by Elaine Stein, an editor at Harper and Row in New York City. Securing a local job writing a housekeeping column, she witnesses the city's systemic racism and the demeaning mistreatment of maids.
Hilly insists on installing separate bathrooms for the maids to use. Skeeter's mother Charlotte tells her that the family maid Constantine quit, but Skeeter does not believe her. She decides to write a book of interviews with the maids to expose their experiences. Minny is fired by Hilly for using an indoor bathroom during a tornado. Hilly vindictively renders Minny unemployable by spreading the lie that she stole from her, forcing her teenaged daughter to quit school to work.
Celia Rae Foote, a pregnant housewife ostracized by the society ladies, seeks a maid for her massive house in Madison. She hires Minny without telling her husband Johnny, Hilly's former love interest. Celia suffers a miscarriage, then reveals that she had a shotgun wedding and had previously miscarried that time as well. Each time she miscarries, Celia plants a rose bush in the garden. She also treats the black eye Minny's abusive husband had given Minny.
After going to a dynamic sermon, Aibileen and Minny let Skeeter interview them. Elaine Stein tells Skeeter she needs many more maids' stories for the book, but fear of retribution prevents others from coming forward. Aibileen tells Skeeter about her only son's on-the-job death due to his negligent foreman. Skeeter delays a piece in the Junior League newsletter on the "separate but equal" bathrooms for Hilly, instead submitting an embarrassing misprint, leading to 'commodes' being deposited in Hilly's front garden. Hilly refuses to advance money to her new maid, Yule May Davis, who needs $75 to send her twins to Tougaloo College. When Yule May pawns a lost ring that was under a sofa, she is violently arrested after Hilly reports her. This incident and Medgar Evers' assassination inspire more maids to share their stories.
As Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny fear for the maids' anonymity, Minny reveals the "terrible awful" as a form of insurance. After her termination, Minny brought Hilly her famous chocolate pie, but explainsafter Hilly had finished two slicesthat she had baked her own excrement into it. Hilly sends her mother to a nursing home for laughing about it.
Skeeter finally confronts Charlotte about Constantine's departure. Charlotte confesses that during a Daughters of America luncheon at her home, she fired Constantine because her daughter Rachel, arriving earlier than expected, refused to enter the house through the kitchen. Rachel subsequently moved her heartbroken mother to Chicago, where she died.
Skeeter's book, The Help, is published anonymously and read widely by the black and white communities of Jackson. Skeeter shares the proceeds with the maids. Her boyfriend Stuart breaks up with her after learning she is the book's author.
Minny tells Celia about the "terrible awful." Celia then subtly reveals this to Hilly, calling her "Two Slice Hilly". Panicked, Hilly threatens to sue Skeeter for libel but backs down when she realizes she would have to publicly admit to the pie story. Charlotte intervenes, ordering Hilly off the property, then mother and daughter reconcile. Johnny tells Minny that he knows she has been working at their house and promises her permanent job security so she and her children can leave her abusive husband. Aibileen's congregation honors her for her leadership in the publication. Minny and Aibileen convince Skeeter to take a New York City job offer.
In revenge, Hilly pressures Elizabeth to fire Aibileen, claiming that she has stolen silverware. She defends herself, Hilly storms out in tears, and Elizabeth fires Aibileen. As Aibileen bids farewell to Mae, she begs Elizabeth to love her daughter. As she is leaving, she decides to quit domestic work to become a writer.
Cast
Emma Stone as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark Bryce Dallas Howard as Hillary "Hilly" Walters Holbrook Octavia Spencer as Minerva "Minny" Jackson, Aibileen's best friend Jessica Chastain as Celia Rae Foote Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter's mother Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth Ahna O'Reilly as Elizabeth Leefolt Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Walters, Hilly's mother Mary Steenburgen as Elaine Stein Cicely Tyson as Constantine Jefferson Mike Vogel as Johnny Foote Anna Camp as Jolene French La Chanze as Rachel Jefferson, Constantine's daughter Wes Chatham as Carlton Phelan, Skeeter's older brother Aunjanue Ellis as Yule May Davis Nelsan Ellis as Henry The Waiter Dana Ivey as Grace Higginbotham Ashley Johnson as Mary Beth Caldwell Leslie Jordan as Mr. Blackly Brian Kerwin as Robert Phelan, Skeeter's father Ted Welch as William Holbrook, Hilly's husband Shane McRae as Raleigh Leefolt, Elizabeth's husband David Oyelowo as Preacher Green Henry Carpenter as Jameso Roslyn Ruff as Pascagoula Emma and Eleanor Henry as Mae Mobley Leefolt, Elizabeth & Raleigh's daughter Carol Sutton as Cora
Production Development In December 2009, Variety reported that Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, and Mark Radcliffe would produce a film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's historical fiction novel The Help (2009), under their production company 1492 Pictures. Brunson Green of Harbinger Productions also co-produced. The film was written and directed by Tate Taylor, who optioned film rights to the book before its publication. The novel's film rights were obtained by DreamWorks in March 2010. Reliance Entertainment and Participant Media co-produced the film.
The first casting news for the production came in March 2010, when it was reported that Emma Stone was attached to play the role of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. Other actors were later cast, including Viola Davis as Aibileen; Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook, Jackson's racist town ringleader; Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan, Skeeter's mother; and Chris Lowell as Stuart Whitworth, Skeeter's boyfriend and a senator's son. Leslie Jordan appears as the editor of the fictional local newspaper, The Jackson Journal. Mike Vogel plays the character Johnny Foote. Octavia Spencer portrays Minny. Spencer inspired the character of Minny in Stockett's novel and voiced her in the audiobook version.
Filming Filming began in July 2010 and extended through October. The city of Greenwood was chosen to portray 1960s-era Jackson, and producer Green said he had expected to shoot "95 percent" of the film there. Parts of the film were also shot in the real-life Jackson, as well as in the cities of Clarksdale and Greenville. One of the few real locations in the book and the film is Brent's Drugs, which dates to 1946. Other locations that can still be found in Jackson include the New Capitol Building and the Mayflower Cafe downtown. Scenes set at the Jackson Journal office were shot in Clarksdale at the building which formerly housed the Clarksdale Press Register for forty years until April 2010.
The Help was the most significant film production in Mississippi since O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) "Honestly, my heart would be broken if it were set anywhere but Mississippi," Stockett wrote in an e-mail to reporters. In order to convince producers to shoot in Greenwood, Tate Taylor and others had previously come to the town and scouted locations; at his first meeting with DreamWorks executives, he presented them with a photo album of potential filming spots in the area. The state's tax incentive program for filmmakers was also a key enticement in the decision.
Music