The Help (2011)
The Help was the link movie connecting Spider-Man and The Suicide Squad.
Linked through Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis.
Both Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis appeared in The Help.
About The Help
"Change begins with a whisper."
Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.
Directed by Tate Taylor
Written by Tate Taylor
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Behind the camera
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Awards
The film received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Viola Davis, and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer; Spencer won Best Supporting Actress. The Help also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Soundtrack
Score by Thomas Newman
Two soundtracks were released: a period-authentic 12-track soundtrack released by Geffen Records on August 4, 2011, collated by music supervisor Jennifer Hawks and featuring artists like Johnny Cash, Frankie Valli and Ray Charles, with Mary J. Blige's original song "The Living Proof" written after a second viewing; the score album of original cues was composed and conducted by Thomas Newman, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony, and released by Varèse Sarabande on September 6, 2011.
Movie trivia
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1
Tate Taylor optioned film rights to Kathryn Stockett's novel before its publication and then both wrote and directed the film.
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2
Octavia Spencer inspired the character of Minny in Stockett's novel and also voiced Minny in the audiobook version.
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3
Greenwood, Mississippi was chosen to portray 1960s-era Jackson and producer Brunson Green expected to shoot about 95 percent of the film there; additional scenes were filmed in Jackson, Clarksdale and Greenville, with Brent's Drugs a real 1946 location.
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4
To convince DreamWorks to shoot in Greenwood, Tate Taylor presented executives with a photo album of potential filming spots, and Mississippi's state tax incentive program was cited as a key enticement.
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5
The Help topped the North American box office for 25 days in a row, the longest uninterrupted streak since The Sixth Sense's 35-day run.
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6
DreamWorks acquired the screen rights in March 2010, casting began that month (Emma Stone was among the first actors attached) and principal photography began four months later in Mississippi.
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