Anticipated new film, The Help, worth the wait!

This story is personal for me. 

My mother worked as a domestic helper for nearly 42 years during the height of the Civil Rights Era in then, starkly segregated Louisiana.  She worked for the same family.  Fortunately, her story differs from many.  The family she worked for had a sense of decency and treated my mother with respect.

In fact, her employers have all since passed away; my mother is thriving, at age 91, recounting fond memories of that family, while still enjoying a relationship with their offspring whom she helped raise.

Beyond my own accounts, numerous women can identify with the story of “The Help,” the new feature film based on the best-selling novel from Kathryn Stockett, chronicling the perspective of black domestic workers in Jackson, MS. 

Far right - Mrs. Lela Varner, my mother, with two
of her great-grandchildren, Alex and Haley

Although my memories differ somewhat from The Help’s story, they are closely aligned.  Most vividly are the recollections of blatant segregation dictating that my mother was to enter the back door of the house where she worked, yet she had full run of the home.  To the employer’s credit, there were no disrespectful conflicts where my mother was treated harshly.  My mother actually regarded her employers as friends.

Conversely, I would harbor resentment for many years because they represented “the people” who saw more of my mother than I did.  She entered their employ when I was age 4. 

A pivot point of the film draws attention to the demands put upon domestic workers that often took them away from their families.

Thankfully, I grew up in an era of a strong community infrastructure.  On weekdays, following kindergarten class, I stayed with older women in the neighborhood until mama picked me.  This continued through elementary school.  By middle school, all the neighborhood kids were latchkey and mostly hung at our house for homework and snacks. 

Our family time was precious because mama worked five days a week and most Saturdays.  Daddy was off on weekends unless he picked up side jobs.  I am careful to point out that my parents did not neglect us; they worked normal hours that to a small child seemed extreme. 

There is probably a screenplay floating in the back of my mind too.

In the meantime, “The Help” is a well-made film from director Tate Taylor and the actors turn in exceptional performances. 

L to R - S. Spacek, C. Tyson, J. Chastain and V. Davis

The esteemed cast includes Oscar nominees Viola Davis and Ms. Cicely Tyson along with Emma Stone, Emmy Award-winning Allison Janney, Bryce Dallas Howard, Oscar winner Sissy Spacek, Jessica Chastain, Chris Lowell, Mike Vogel and Octavia Spencer in what I hope will be her award-winning role.

I sat with cast members Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer and director Tate Taylor during a media tour to discuss the film--

Sandra Varner (Talk2SV):  Congratulations, great job.  This story is hard to tell yet it is a beautiful story of liberation; liberation from a time that wasn’t very long ago.  It is a story of an enduring friendship that becomes the redemptive arch of the story.  Did you draw upon any particular element of the friendship aspect?

Emma Stone as “Skeeter” in The Help

Emma Stone: Yes, that friends come in so many unlikely places, that you don’t need to have a similar upbringing.  You don’t need to have anything similar except for maybe a similar viewpoint or something to talk about, something to challenge each other with. That friends come from anywhere and I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about this story. Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Skeeter (Stone) find this incredible common bond though they are from two very different worlds.  They come together and realize that they are the exact same two human beings who want the same things from the world.

Talk2SV: This movie has the good fortune of an incredible cast, you among them. When you get the opportunity to work alongside such colleagues, how does it influence and inform your own sensibilities as an actor?

Stone: It makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world and it just makes your job that much easier.  When you have to react to Viola Davis, it’s like you’re given the greatest gift you could possibly receive because you don’t have to ‘act’ anymore.  You’re just looking and listening to Viola Davis who is just incredible.  My job was just to react to these beautiful fantastic actors.

Talk2SV: Along with Viola’s wonderful performance, I have to comment on Allison Janney’s performance as well.  She plays your mother and the interplay between the two of you is dynamic.  What are your reflections of working with her? 

Standing - Allison Janney with Emma Stone

Stone: She is phenomenal as a human being and as an actor.  She’s so giving and so emotionally open.  So funny and she added such a great humor to Charlotte, her character in this film.  It (that aspect) really made the unconditional love factor --that a mother and daughter have for each other no matter what other stuff is put on it or how strained that relationship might be-- possible in her performance by being who she is.  I was incredibly grateful to her.

Talk2SV: It is rare to have the opportunity you’ve been given with this particular role.  Equally, it is important to come away with an expanded view of history that took place before you were born.  How were you personally affected?

Stone: I became someone who had one of the best summers of my life. I came away with many life long friendships and with a deeper understanding of what happened in the 1960’s, in the south, and how it informs where we are now.  How much further we (as a nation) must go.  Personally, I learned so much more on this movie about history than I ever have and it was a huge thing for my life.

Octavia Spencer as “Minny” in The Help

Talk2SV: This movie portrays a snapshot of many of the grand women of the south, unique unto themselves who are full of personality and full of spunk. What did you draw from the archetypes that you’ll take through the rest of your life’s journey?

Octavia Spencer:  I realized that the subsequent generations --especially African Americans and people of color-- don’t always realize the contributions these women made less than a hundred years ago.  I love this film because it’s a celebration of those contributions.  From this film, I realize that I have a lot of work to do because ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’  When you think you haven’t been given much you don’t expect much.  But I realize there is so much that I’ve been given and hopefully as my life continues to flourish and people come in and out of my life, I will continue to be a “Minny” or “Aibileen” or “Skeeter.”   We can only hope.

I think it’s important that this type of dialogue is taking place.  There are so many things that are taboo to talk about: racism being one of them. But, it’s not the only ‘ism’ we need to overcome as a world-at-large. Whether it’s sexism, ageism, ‘homophobism,’ I’ve coined that word, I think this is a great way to expose those dirty little things that we don’t like to discuss and really make us hold a mirror up to our own faces and say, ‘what do you really think?’  Much the way that “Skeeter” does with “Aibileen.”

L to R - O. Spencer, V. Davis and E. Stone

Talk2SV: “Minny,” your character is the subject of workplace abuse as well as physical abuse in her home yet she carries a theme of dignity in a unique way. Tell me about the back-story you gave “Minny.”

Spencer: I only colored in her childhood because I am a product of our time and this era precedes me.  While spousal abuse is prevalent in our society, it’s not something that really is discussed openly because there is an element of shame to it.  So I had to ‘not judge’ Minny and really come to terms with why she would stay [in an abusive setting].  Personally, it would take just one time.  I had to come to grips with those aspects and just tried to give a very informed performance and I hope I did it.

Talk2SV:  I think you’re going to carry home a truck load of awards for this performance.

Spencer: Well, you know what, I’ve already gotten the biggest reward possible and that was getting to work with my dear friends on this project.  I am just grateful that I got to meet one of the last icons of the era in Ms. Cicely Tyson and that I really understand the struggle now. The subsequent generations don’t know what it’s like to have to endure what these women endured to pave the way for us. I think it’s homage to their greatness and their contributions.

Foreground left - Film Director Tate Taylor with
Emma Stone on the set of “The Help”

Talk2SV:  Knowing the weight that this story carries, as the film’s director, what is your comment about your treatment of it?

Tate Taylor: If we look at the aspect of the film that dealt with what was going on in the homes, in the place where these African American women served, was definitely an aspect to the film that we wanted to deal with.  But, what Kathryn (Stockett) did with the novel and what we wanted to continue was not show these women as victims. I was excited about was showing that these are multi-faceted, smart, educated, talented women with families and lives outside of those kitchens who were just victims of circumstance. Meaning, there was only one or two things they could do to provide for their families, that is what excited me.  Kathryn had written a novel and we had an opportunity to put real lives on these women and show that in what I hope is a satisfying way.

Talk2SV: You are to be commended on the pacing and design of the storytelling; especially the comedy and the lighter moments that help you get through the larger dramatic waves.  Was it written that way by the author or did you overlay the comedic tone?

Taylor: I’d like to think it’s on the page, but honestly, so many of us who are behind this project, me, who adapted it, Kathryn, and many of the actors, are southerners.  We’re predisposed to be story tellers.  For example, in the south, if you’re buying a car, you go there and tell a story to get a good deal. If you’re selling a car, you’re going to tell a good story to get them to buy it (laughter).   We (southerners) always seem to do that with highs and lows, peaks and valleys; you just want to draw them in. So, I think we all just naturally told the story that way. I knew I needed to put in some humor to separate some of these tragic moments.  When you’ve got a good story, if you’re laughing you’ve got to be worried, like, ‘oh gosh, are they going to take this away from me?’  And, if you’re crying, you think, I hope we’re getting ready to get a laugh.  I think that’s important to filmmaking.

Synopsis of the movie --

Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) just graduated from Ole Miss and is intent on getting a job as a writer. Unlike the girls she grew up with in Jackson, Mississippi, Skeeter wants a career and is quite content to put marriage and children on hold—much to her married friends’, and her mother’s, constant consternation. When she lands a job writing an advice column for the local newspaper, she seeks help from Aibileen (Viola Davis), her best friend’s maid and finds herself embarking on a clandestine project, spurred on by a book editor in New York and inspired by the moving stories she uncovers.

Aibileen Clark has been a housekeeper all her life, working in the white homes of Jackson, Miss. She has raised 17 children for her employers and one son of her own, who was tragically, and unnecessarily, killed in an accident. Saddened by the loss of her only child, Aibileen draws strength from both her faith and her best friend Minny.

Out-spoken Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) is a 33-year-old housekeeper who has a reputation as the best cook in Mississippi. She works for Hilly Holbrook, but an act of defiance finds her fired and traveling to the outskirts of Jackson to work for lonely, fish-out-of-water Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain). Minny is Aibileen’s best friend and helped her get through her grief over losing her only son. Though strong and independent, Minny nonetheless is the voice of reason, as well as a healthy skeptic, when it comes to Skeeter’s project.