Rounding out the cast of director Tate Taylor’s (“Pretty Ugly People”) Civil Rights-era jaunt is Bryce Dallas Howard, so says Deadline. Howard will join the recently announced Viola Davis (“Doubt”), along with Emma Stone (“Zombieland”). Howard is set to play antagonist/bitch Hilly Holbrook, who is apparently always on the warpath and is especially disrespectful and short with the African-American maids. The film focuses on Emma Stone’s character Skeeter, who is writing a tell-all novel about what it is like to be an African-American in Mississippi during the 1960s.
This is an interesting turn for Howard, though not exactly surprising. While she is best known for her sort of forgettable roles in films like “Spiderman 3” and “Terminator Salvation,” she has tackled more challenging fare like Lars Von Trier’s slavery-era drama “Manderlay.” Her role here will certainly be one of her most challenging yet, but chances are her character will learn a lesson about equality and everyone will hold hands and sing together at the end of the film.
As you can guess, we have our reservations about the adaptation of the best-selling novel. The material could quickly become a one-note film about white guilt overcome by being nice to a few black people, but we hope that Taylor (who is also writing the screenplay) goes for nuance instead of hitting a strident tone. Even though the cast isn’t quite A-list, the film will definitely have a following due to the subject matter, not to mention the novel’s fanbase. Shooting begins in July, and in the meantime you can see Howard in Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” in December, and in the new “Twilight: Eclipse” coming in June.