While The Help may not be the most prominent movie in terms of viral marketing, we still love the fact that we can bring you exciting roundtables with some very big stars. Recently, MovieViral sat down with Bryce Dallas Howard for a roundtable for The Help. The actress was eager to talk about how exciting it was to play a “bitch” and talk about some of her other roles in the future. To read more about this hit the jump.
Howard talked about the freedom that comes with playing the bitch/antagonist for The Help, given the fact that she does play a villainess in the Twilight series, she was glad to play such a real person, who is cruel and evil. Of course this isn’t a reflection of her character. Howard explained that the concern for her family’s well being may have contributed to her ignorance towards The Help. She made her character so real by creating stories or moments in her character’s life where it relates to situations during that time. These created stories had to be real enough so the character could be someone that she and the audience could believe in.
Howard never really based her character off of any iconic villains in cinema. But she did understand how she could relate to a villain like Nurse Ratchet. Both characters thought they were doing the right things, but in reality they were doing the exact opposite. She did get into the psychology of the character and understood what she was going through.
When asked if she experienced any racism, Howard said that naturally, any child that is not raised in an environment where it was socially acceptable to say racist things, would asked if it was alright to say such words. It was those memories that helped Howard create Hilly to become a more three dimensional villain.
Howard then talked about how she auditioned for the character and the excitement she felt after reading the script. She added that it was eerie to know that her mother thought she would be perfect for Hilly. After being invested in the movie, she began to read the book; she felt that there was no way that she could walk away from the movie itself.
As the roundtable came to a close, Howard began to talk about her future role on 50/50. She admitted that she does not have a big role in the film, but talked about the screenplay writer and how he and his friend (played by Seth Rogen) used humor to fight through cancer. Again she talked about how much fun it was to play a character that she would not normally play.
The Help opens in theaters on August 10th.