Viola Davis Talks About Her Role in The Help - AARP The Magazine Movies for Grownups

Viola Davis Talks About ' The Help'

The Oscar nominee almost passed on the highly anticipated film adaptation Here' s why

Courtesy Dreamworks Studios Viola Davis plays Abileen Clark in The Help, the new film version of the best-selling novel. Viola Davis says she hesitated before taking on the role of Aibileen, the woman at the center of The Help: "Aibileen is a maid in in the early 1960s — and being an actress playing a maid in 2011 has a certain stigma attached to it." Some have argued that such roles reinforce stereotypes. See also:

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In the end, Davis — an Oscar nominee for (see clip below) — took the part. "The richness and beauty of the character were too wonderful to pass up," she says. Based on Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel, the film (costarring Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard and Allison Janney, among others) focuses on maids, and their employers, in the era. "Aibileen doesn't have the characteristics of a hero," says Davis. "What she has is courage and extraordinary compassion."
opens in theaters on August 12, 2011.
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