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The ‘Jurassic World’ actress is uncomfortable with her 2011 movie because it’s ‘created by predominantly white storytellers’ and told through the perspective of white people.
Jun 19, 2020
AceShowbiz – Bryce Dallas Howard would turn down her role in “The Help” if the project were offered to her today.
The 2011 movie, based on Kathryn Stockett’s book about the racism encountered by black maids in America’s southern states in the 1960s, has become the most-watched film on Netflix thanks to ongoing Black Lives Matter protests taking place around the world.
Howard, who played snooty Hilly Holbrook in the film, admits she was “grateful” to land the role but wouldn’t sign on for the project today due to the fact it was “created by predominantly white storytellers” and she feels it’s time for audiences to look for projects featuring black storytellers.
“Right now, in this time, stories are going to play a crucial role in our ability to empathise and to be inspired into action,” she told the Los Angeles Times, “and the storytellers who we must listen to right now and look to and learn from… there’s an extraordinary body of work that centres on black characters from black creators.”
Asked if she’d play Holbrook today, Howard tells the Times, “No.”
The actress addressed the popularity of the film earlier this month, June 2020, taking to Instagram to encourage followers to look to other films that focus on the struggles of the African-American community.
“I’ve heard that #TheHelp is the most viewed film on @netflix right now! I’m so grateful for the exquisite friendships that came from that film – our bond is something I treasure deeply and will last a lifetime,” she wrote. “This being said, The Help is a fictional story told through the perspective of a white character and was created by predominantly white storytellers. We can all go further.”
“Stories are a gateway to radical empathy and the greatest ones are catalysts for action. If you are seeking ways to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, lynchings, segregation, Jim Crow, and all the ways in which those have an impact on us today, here are a handful of powerful, essential, masterful films and shows that centre on Black lives, stories, creators, and/or performers.”
Among the films Bryce suggested watching were “Malcolm X”, “Selma”, and “Just Mercy”.
Viola Davis, who starred as Aibileen in “The Help”, also expressed regrets about the film in a 2018 interview with The New York Times.
“I just felt that at the end of the day, that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard,” she explained. “I know Aibileen. I know Minny (Octavia Spencer’s character). 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.”
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