Viola Davis says she regrets taking a part in The Help
It may have been a box-office hit that earned her an Oscar nomination, but Viola Davis still regrets her part in 2011 period drama The Help.
During a Q&A at the Toronto Film festival, where Davis is currently promoting the forthcoming Steve McQueen thriller Widows, the star again discussed her reservations about The Help and admitted that it was on a list of films that she regretted taking part in.
The film, which was an adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestselling novel of the same name, follows an aspiring author Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), who while living in a small segregated Mississippi town during the early Sixties decides to write a controversial book.
Phelan's novel details the experiences of African American house maids who were employed by white families, contentiously from the point of view of "The Help", which causes a stir among the local housewives. Viola Davis starred as Aibileen, one of the maids who gave testimony to the book.
Upon its release the film divided audiences, with many African Americans accusing it of glossing over the racial violence of the era.
The How to Get Away with Murder star said that she regretted being a part of the film because she "felt that, at the end of the day, it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard."
“I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom," she said, "And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is [from their point of view], 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.”
Despite her reservations about the drama, Davis did go on to add that she "had a great experience with [the] other actresses" in the film, and called them "extraordinary human beings".
She also praised the film's director Tate Taylor, and said of the cast as a whole: "The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life."
During the panel the Oscar-winner also discussed being a role model to other black actresses due to her highly successful career – she was the first black actress to be nominated for three Oscars, and is the only black actor to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony award).
Davis said: "Being that role model and picking up that baton when you’re struggling in your own life has been difficult. [But] I choose to be the leader.”
