Two-time Academy Award® Nominee Viola Davis made a personal appearance for the showing of her Oscar® nominated film The Help at the Cinémas Palme D’Or in Palm Desert last Friday afternoon. The event began with a viewing of the film and at the conclusion of the film Ms. Davis joined Cinémas Palm D’Or host and co-owner Steve Mason (Mason & Ireland, 710 ESPN) for questions from the audience.
Viola Davis has just recently been nominated for her second Academy Award® for her subtle, yet stirring performance as a Negro maid during the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the film The Help. And one can say that her life has come full circle, as Viola was born in 1965 in the southern town of Saint Matthews, South Carolina. Viola’s mother and grandmothers were both maids. When Viola was just a few months old her family relocated to Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Viola’s family was the only black family in town and definitely the poorest of the residents. Her family was so poor that her parents could only afford to leave in condemned buildings. In a perverse move, the town’s Mayer came to their own kitchen to tell the press how fortunate her family was to have the privilege to live in a rat-invested building that would be demolished in a year to make way for a new building. Although conditions were rough, Viola does not reflect on these times as all bad. She recalls putting on plays with her sisters, playing competitive sports and getting good grades in school.
Viola stated that she still remembers the exact moment that she saw Cicely Tyson. Her family was watching Tyson in here award-winner role in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” She said that her sister told her that the woman that played the teenager and the woman who placed the old woman were both the same actress – Cicely Tyson. And then she said to Viola “that is what acting is, Viola.”
Until this experience, the only black actors she knew from television came from “Sanford and Son.” Little did Viola know that well over thirty years later she would meet and act with the trail-blazing actress in The Help.
Viola was first notice in a play when she was fourteen years old. Her performance allowed her to obtain a scholarship at the Young People’s School of Performing Arts in Rhode Island. Viola had a five hour journey each day to and from the school, but she didn’t feel isolated, she felt as if she had made it. “When you put yourself out there, when you dream big, someone will throw you a rope – and I grabbed all the rope I could. I relied on the kindness of strangers.”
Viola attended Rhode Island College and graduated with a degree in fine arts. She also attended college at the famed Julliard School in New York. Her big break came in 1996 on Broadway. She was nominated for a Tony Award® for her performance in “Seven Guitars.” She continued to work on stage and on television and she won the Tony Award® in 2001 for her performance in “King Hedley II.”
Viola has also appeared in many films, her first significant role was in Out of Sight in 1998. She has also starred in Traffic, Antoine Fisher, Kate and Leopold, Solaris and Syriana. She first caught the attention of Academy Awards® for her supporting performance in the film Doubt, a film she shared scenes with Meryl Streep. This role brought her an Oscar® nomination for her performance, but she lost to Penélope Cruz’ fiery performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It was a lesson well learned as she stated “one thing about the Oscars®, people migrate towards flashy performances.”
But Viola has a good perspective on Oscar® night. “You compete in sports, not in acting. It is a very subjective matter.”
In 2010 she received the script for The Help from Writer/Director Tate Taylor. Viola immediately turned down the role and gave notes to Taylor. “In the first script there were too many humorous moments between Aibileen and Minny. And all the background information about Aibileen’s son was completely left out."
She credited Taylor with acknowledging her comments and once a revision was completed on the script she signed on to play Aibileen. “I wanted to play someone that was real.”
Viola stated that her character Aibileen was like many people of her time. “Aibileen’s power is that she represents the ordinary person - people that weren’t in the history books, people that put their own dreams away to support a family. They went to work, worked real hard and barely knew anything else.”
Viola’s portrayal of Aibileen has gotten quite a bit of stir due to her reactions to events around her. Viola commented “I draw on my knowledge of real human beings. I create an internal world for the characters I play. If you see a cat on stage with an actor – you will be drawn to pay attention to the cat, because the cat is real. I enjoy that kind of work.”
The Help is an ensemble cast, with rich roles for many of the actors, and Viola said “The common thread with all these women is the low expectations they have. Even the white women are expected to get married and have children. None of the women in this film are encouraged to dream.”
One her most challenging moments during the shoot came from her interactions with the child character Mae Mobley, played by twins Eleanor and Emma Henry. Not only did Viola use bribery to get the toddler twins to hit their mark, but she had to jump out of character, feed the children their lines and then jump back into character. “Working with a child can be magic, but it is unpredictable.”
With the Oscar® nomination at hand, Viola is not done with walking the red carpet. At the SAG® Awards, she wore a beautiful Marchesa gown and it seemed an effortless task for her. “I hate this part of my job. I was never a “princess” kind of a girl. I didn’t even wear makeup until my late 20’s. After my acceptance speech at the SAG awards, I walked around backstage in bare feet.”
But there is more than pretty dresses to be concerned about when Oscar® nominations come your way. With the fame, Viola has lost her amenity. “My amenity is gone. You can fail when you’re not famous and no one knows, but now people will watch and judge my choices. There is responsibility now too. I’m expected to speak on larger issues.”
“I have also found great isolation with fame. I use to have lots of girlfriends, friends I could call at 3:00 a.m. and just talk about a TV show or anything. Now, I definitely have fewer friends. Many of my friends were actors and it is very hard for them to really be happy for you when your career does well.”
On the home front, Viola married actor Julius Tennon in 2003 and she calls it “one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
Viola and Julius are now producing partners and they adopted a baby girl in 2011, which she states (while beaming) “she is the other great thing in my life.”
Viola has just accepted a role in the science fiction film Enders Game, which will start shooting right after the Academy Awards® is over. “I like well-written science fiction. But I also took the part, because it’s a job!”
Viola is also scheduled to film a project for HBO, titled “Beautiful Creatures,” written by Richard LaGravenese (Water for Elephants) and based on the book by the same title.
See here for my review of The Help
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Whatever your movie choice this week, please remember your movie theater etiquette: silence your cell phones & no texting, please don't talk during the film and remove your children if they become a distraction to other audience members. Don't forget that laughing, crying and cheering are always approved behavior and even encouraged.
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-Kay Shackleton is a film historian with special focus on Silent Films, see her work on SilentHollywood.com
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