The Help centers on a wannabe writer and college graduate named Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone) who returns home to Mississippi and pens a book on how African American maids are treated in her Jackson hometown.  Bryce Dallas Howard is Hilly Holbrook, a leader in the community who is trying to pass an initiative to have all Mississippi families build an outdoor bathroom for their “help.”

“The thing that was trickier for me was trying to understand this woman’s psychology,” says Howard, who talked about the challenges of playing Hilly.  “And how she was the way she was.  It’s obvious she is an ignorant woman and I could get behind the fact what she was doing she believed was right.  She genuinely thought that she was protecting her children, protecting her future, and her town.  While she was profoundly misguided, I could get behind that kind of a psychology.”

Based on Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel, the feature offers up a plethora of themes, including the empowering bond of friendship. Click on the media bar below to her Howard talk about her best friend, whom she describes as her “soul mate.”

The Help, which co-stars Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain, opens August 10th.

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