Bryce Dallas Howard says she would not agree to star in The Help if it were made today

Bryce Dallas Howard has said she would not star in The Help if it were made today, amid an outcry over its renewed popularity.

The 39-year-old daughter of Ron Howard spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the film, which is about Black maids in the segregated South, but is told through the eyes of a white woman and has been accused of a ‘white savior’ tone.

In her new interview Bryce pointed viewers instead to ‘an extraordinary body of work that centers on Black characters from Black creators.’

These projects stand in contrast to The Help which had a white director, Tate Taylor and is based on a novel by a white author, Kathryn Stockett.

Bryce was asked about a recent Instagram post where she noted that The Help had become the most viewed movie on Netflix after being added there on June 1.

While saying she was ‘so grateful for the exquisite friendships’ she made on the film, she listed some other shows and movies that she would prefer her followers watch inasmuch as they ‘center Black lives, stories, creators, and / or performers.’

These included three projects by Ava DuVernay – the films Selma and 13th and the mini-series When They See Us – as well as Spike Lee’s biopic of Malcolm X.

She told the Los Angeles Times why she wrote the post, saying: ‘Being around movie sets, I know what goes into a production. So when I’m watching a movie, I know when I see the director’s name that they were really, really involved and it’s largely their opinions and the writer’s opinion.’

Bryce shared with the newspaper: ‘The actors, I don’t want to say we’re props – we can be more than props,’ then laughed and added: ‘But the final decision is not ours. I know who has the power. And so right now, in this time, stories are going to play a crucial role in our ability to empathize and to be inspired into action.’

She continued: ‘And the storytellers who we must listen to right now and look to and learn from – there’s an extraordinary body of work that centers on Black characters from Black creators.’

When she said she would not appear in the film if it were made now she noted that ‘What I’ve seen is that folks have the courage to say that. “With all due respect, I love this project, I do not think you could be the filmmaker.” That’s a really powerful thing to say. That’s an important stance to take in order to make room for the true authentic storytellers.’

Bryce argued: ‘In this transformation that’s happening, there’s a new freedom of expression. I’m seeing from others – and feeling from myself – that it is less about worrying about offending people and looking within and saying: “Why? What really am I scared of, and what is that reinforcing?: And so I posted it and didn’t look back.’

Netflix added The Help to its repertoire on June 1 and it became number one on June 4, all as riots and protests swept the nation over the George Floyd killing.

A string of critics took exception to the movie’s popularity including Rebecca Theodore-Vachon who wrote: ‘I’m so sorry but the last thing folx need to be watching are bootleg “racial reconciliation” movies like The Help.’

The Help star Viola Davis, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work in the film, told the New York Times in 2018 that she ‘regretted’ having been in it.

She showered praise on her co-stars and director but ‘just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard.’

Referring to her character and the one played by Octavia Spencer, she said: ‘I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom.’

Viola noted 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.’