When she first found fame, Bryce Dallas Howard seemed happy playing the nice girl, but now she’s out to show her dark side. She took over the role of evil vampire Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and now she’s playing the baddie in the adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s book, The Help.
The novel is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, and explores how the unspoken code of behaviour governing Southern households is shattered when an aspiring writer interviews a maid, who speaks candidly about her experiences. The interview sets off shock waves that reverberate across the entire community. Emma Stone has already been cast as the writer, with Viola Davis as one of the key maid characters.
Now Deadline reports Bryce Dallas Howard is joining the cast as antagonistic Hilly Holbrook, the beehive hairdo-wearing busybody who is cruel to the black maids and generally rubs everyone the wrong way.
Behind-the-scenes it’s a fairly sweet story, as rather than just selling to the highest bidder, Stockett and screenwriter Tate Taylor solicited the help of Percy Jackson director Chris Columbus, who got involved because his kids go to the same school as Taylor’s niece and nephew. Tate will also direct, with Stockett staying loyal to him despite her novel becoming a literary sensation, due to the fact they were childhood friends. The film is set to start filming in July.