The Help (2011)

This is the movie based on the book of the same name by Kathryn Stockett

Summary
-Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is an aspiring author in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi who writes a tell-all memoir of the black maids' point of view working for white people in the South during the civil rights movement

Cast
-Emma Stone: Skeeter Phelan
-Viola Davis: Aibileen Clark
-Bryce Dallas Howard: Miss Hilly Holbrook
-Octavia Spencer: Minny Jackson
-Jessica Chastain: Celia Foote
-Ahna O'Reily: Elizabeth Leefolt
-Allison Janney: Charlotte Phelan
-Anna Camp: Jolene French
-Eleanor Henry: Mae Mobley
-Emma Henry: Mae Mobley
-Chris Lowell: Stuart Whitworth
-Cicely Tyson: Constantine Jefferson
-Mike Vogel: Johnny Foote
-Sissy Spacek: Missus Walters
-Roslyn Bluff: Pascagoula
-Leslie Jordan: Mr. Blackly
-David Oyelowo: Preacher Green
-Dana Ivey: Gracie Higginbottom
-LaChanze: Rachel

 



Did You Know?
-Kathryn Stockett's book of the same name was rejected sixty times before it was finally published

-Tate Taylor, who directed the movie and Kathryn Stockett were friends growing up in Jackson, Mississippi
-It is never mentioned in the movie how "Skeeter" got her nickname. In the book, however, she got the nickname because she had a pointy nose and thin body, leading her brother to say she looked like a skeeter (mosquito)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Despite the fact the book takes place in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, the movie actually takes place in 1963, amidst the heating up of the civil rights movement. About an hour in to the movie, actual news footage covering the assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers is used. The reason being that he was assassinated in his own driveway in front of his wife and kids in 1963. It's also referenced in the book

-In order to gain weight for her role as Celia Foote, Jessica Chastain, a vegan, ate soy ice cream melted in the microwave

-Three of the books referenced in the original novel that make an appearance in Skeeter's room are Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

-Bryce Dallas Howard, who played Miss Hilly Holbrook, was pregnant during the filming of the movie

-One of the books on Skeeter's book shelf is Native Son by Richard Wright. While Skeeter has the best intentions in her heart, she is completely naïve and unaware of the potentially harmful damage she is doing by interacting with the black communities. This closely mirrors Mary Dalton's treatment of Bigger Thomas in Wright's story
-According to the novel, Skeeter's old maid, Constantine, died three weeks after arriving in Chicago
-In the story, Constantine's daughter Rachel was born with light, pale skin, referred to as "high yellow", leading most everyone to suspect that Rachel was not Constantine's child because she appeared white instead of black.