Allison Janney Joins Viola Davis in 'The Help' Film

EW.com reports today that Allison Janney will be joining Viola Davis in the DreamWorks upcoming film adaption of The Help. The Emmy winner and 9-5 alum will play the role of Charlotte Phelan - mother of heroine Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) - in the film, based on the book by Kathryn Stockett.

Rounding out the cast are Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard.

The Help tells the story of African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s.

The novel is told from the perspective of three characters: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

Filming begins in Mississippi later this summer.  The film is expected to be released in 2011.

Allison Janney has appeared on stage as well as in numerous film and television roles. Film roles include 'Juno', 'Hairspray', 'Away We Go', 'Nurse Betty', 'American Beauty', and '10 Things I Hate About You'. Janney's most notable television role was on the Aaron Sorkin political drama , 'The West Wing' where she played press secretary C.J. Cregg from 1999-2006; a role which garnered Janney for Emmy wins and four Golden Globe award nominations. Janney's theatre credits include her 1996 Broadway debut in Present Laughter opposite Frank Langella, the 1998 production 'A View from the Bridge' for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, and most recently she played the role of 'Violet Newstead' in the Broadway musical '9 to 5' based on the 1980 film which starred Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Janney was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Violet and she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.