'The Help' exclusive: Allison Janney joins the cast

Image Credit: Greg GormanFirst she was Juno’s stepmom. Now she’ll be Skeeter’s mom. Dreamworks Studios has hired Emmy-winning actress Allison Janney to play Charlotte Phelan, the mother to heroine Skeeter Phelan, in the film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel The Help.

Tate Taylor, a childhood friend of Stockett’s, is directing the adaptation from a script he wrote. Emma Stone (Zombieland) is set to star as aspiring writer Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, while Viola Davis will play Aibileen. Octavia Spencer has been cast as Minnie, and Bryce Dallas Howard is set to play Hilly, Skeeter’s childhood friend and adult nemesis.

Janney, who most recently played a key character in one of the final episodes of Lost, is best known for her seven years on the award-winning television show The West Wing. She can next be seen in Todd Solondz’s new feature Life During Wartime and is also starring opposite Matthew Perry in the upcoming ABC series Mr. Sunshine.

The Help is filming this summer in Greenwood, Miss. and will open in theaters next year.