It seems like Bryce Dallas Howard really liked her turn as bad-girl vampire Victoria in "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," because last night, Deadline announced she would be playing an even nastier lady. According to the site, Bryce has been cast the play Hilly Holbrook in DreamWorks' big screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's "The Help."
While Victoria's evil has a purpose in "Eclipse" (she wants to kill the woman Edward Cullen loves because he killed the vampire she loved), the character of Hilly Holbrook is just nasty for the sake of being nasty. Deadline describes her as a "beehive hairdo-wearing busybody who is cruel to the black maids and generally rubs everyone the wrong way."
"The Help" tells the story of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (already cast as Emma Stone) who comes home after college in 1962 to her parents' house in Jackson, Miss. She returns somewhat as an outsider, and is able to see the racism dripping from those around her. With the help of some of the black maids who were severely looked down upon yet expected to raise their white mistresses' children, Skeeter decides to write a tell-all narrative of what it's like to be an African-American maid in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi with the help of those willing to speak with her. Viola Davis has already been cast as the first woman to come help Skeeter, Aibileen.
So while Bryce will be one of many "villains" seen on screen, it will be interesting to see her portray a racist, spoiled white Southern white woman, and we're actually pretty excited she gets to show off her great acting skills. We just hope she works on that Southern drawl after "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond."
Are you excited to see Bryce taking this big role after "Eclipse"? Who else do you hope to see get cast in "The Help"?
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