Actress Viola Davis says she regrets her role in The Help.
Adapted from the 2009 Kathryn Stockett novel of the same name, The Help also featured Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan, a young woman writing a book collected from the stories of black maids working in the segregated South. The film shot Davis to prominence as she earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of maid Aibileen.
“I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard,” David said in an interview with The New York Times. “I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
However, the star says she doesn’t regret working with the people involved.
“The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than [The Help director] Tate Taylor,” she added.
