Viola Davis Regrets Her Role In “The Help,” Says Maid Voices Were Not Heard

During an interview with The New York Times, Viola Davis talked about her role in the movie “The Help,” stating that it is one of the roles she regrets. 

While answering the question of “Have you ever passed on a role and regretted it?” Davis stated that she has passed on roles, and doesn’t truly regret passing on them after the fact. “As I’m growing older, I pass on roles because of my experience of knowing once the movie’s out, I’m going to have to promote it. And I don’t want to promote anything that I don’t believe in.”

Davis expanded on the question, and started talking about a role she did regret. Her role as Aibileen Clark in “The Help.”

“Almost a better question is, have I ever done roles that I’ve regretted?” she started. “I have, and “The Help” is on that list. But not in terms of the experience and the people involved because they were all great. The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than Tate Taylor.”

Davis further expands on the statement, stating that it wasn’t the role necessarily, but the that the audience never got to experience the point of view from the maids.

“I just felt that at the end of the day that 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. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, 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.”