Production on The Help starts this summer in Mississippi and casting is almost complete, which means I can finally stop my nitpicky analysis of every choice the production makes and just wait to see if the movie turns out any good. To recap: The Help is a bestseller by Kathryn Stockett about a young white woman in 1960s Mississippi who decides to write a book about the experiences of the black domestic workers called collectively "the help." Stockett's childhood friend Tate Taylor has been chosen to direct, and he's made some bizarre casting choices so far: Yankees Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard will be playing the lead Southern belles. On the other hand he's pretty much dead on with his decisions to cast Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer in the two lead housekeeper roles.
It's hard to say where the latest cast member fits in. THR reports that Chris Lowell, recently killed off Private Practice, will be playing Stuart Whitworth, the son of a senator who starts dating Stone's character Skeeter, but gets scared off when her book gets published. Lowell was born in Atlanta, Georgia, which gives him major points in my book, and is good looking enough to fit the description of the hunk whom Skeeter can't quite believe would be interested in her. The female roles are really the important ones in the book, which likely means Lowell won't have to do much more than show up looking handsome with an acceptable Southern accent.
