The #1 New York Times bestseller by Kathryn Stockett comes to vivid life through the compelling performances of a phenomenal ensemble cast including Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard. The Help is a courageous and empowering story about very different and extraordinary women in the 1960s South who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project.

The Help Blu-ray Combo Pack provides audiences with the chance to delve deeper into the movie through compelling, never-before-seen bonus features, including “The Making of “The Help:‟ From Friendship To Film,” an intimate look at how the life-changing experiences of close-knit childhood friends director Tate Taylor and novelist Kathryn Stockett led to the creation of the best-selling novel and its transition to the big screen.

Additional bonus includes “In Their Own Words: A Tribute To the Maids Of Mississippi,” which is an honest observation of life in the South from real-life maids, including director Tate Taylor‟s childhood caretaker, Carol Lee; Deleted Scenes; and nine-time Grammy Award®-winning and multi-platinum selling singer/songwriter, Mary J. Blige‟s “The Living Proof”, music video from the film‟s end titles.

In continued efforts to provide consumers with multiple viewing choices and unprecedented quality, value and portability in a single purchase, The Help has been packaged as follows:

3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) = $44.99 U.S./$51.99 Canada

Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus Features:

•  The Making of “The Help:” From Friendship To Film
• In Their Own Words: A Tribute To The Maids Of Mississippi
•  Three deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor, including “Humiliated”, “A Book About Jackson” and “Johnny‟s Home‟ (which is a Blu-ray exclusive)

DVD Bonus Features:

•  Two deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor including “A Senator‟s Son‟ and “Keep On Walkin”
•  “The Living Proof” music video by Mary J. Blige

2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD) = $39.99 U.S./$46.99 Canada

Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus Features:

•  The Making of “The Help:” From Friendship To Film
•  In Their Own Words: A Tribute To The Maids Of Mississippi
•  Three deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor including “Humiliated”,  “A Book About Jackson” and “Johnny’s Home” (which is a Blu-ray exclusive)

DVD Bonus Features:

• Two deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor, including  “A Senator’s Son” and “Keep On Walkin”
• “The Living Proof” music video by Mary J. Blige

1-Disc DVD = $29.99 U.S./$35.99 Canada
Bonus Features:

•  Two deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor, including “A Senator’s Son” and “Keep On Walkin”
• “The Living Proof” music video by Mary J. Blige

High Definition Digital Download = $39.99 U.S./$46.99 Canada
Bonus Feature:

•  Three deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor, including “Humiliated”, “A Book About Jackson” and “Johnny’s Home” (which is a Blu-ray exclusive)
•  “The Living Proof” music video by Mary J. Blige

Standard Definition Digital Download = $29.99 U.S./$35.99 Canada
Bonus Feature:

•  Three deleted scenes with introductions by Director Tate Taylor, including “Humiliated”, “A Book About Jackson” and “Johnny’s Home” (which is a Blu-ray exclusive)
• “The Living Proof” music video by Mary J. Blige

The post Holiday Guide 2011-Gifts for Moms-The Help on Blu-Ray and DVD appeared first on The Mom Maven.

I thought I’d share some fun facts about The Help.

• The film is based on the phenomenal New York Times best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett. With 3 million copies in print, “The Help” remained on the NYT best-seller list for 103 weeks, six of which were at No. 1.
•  Produced by Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, and directed and written for the screen by Tate Taylor, “The Help” is a deeply moving, poignant film about the ability to create change.
• Tate Taylor directed and wrote the screenplay for “The Help.” Both he and the author of the novel, Kathryn Stockett, were childhood friends and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, where the book is based.
• “The Help” boasts an illustrious cast, including Academy Award® nominee Viola Davis, Allison Janney, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Oscar® winner Sissy Spacek and Academy Award® nominee Cicely Tyson.
•  Growing up in Jackson, Miss., in the 1970s, both director Tate Taylor and author Kathryn Stockett had maids (whom both refer to as their “co-mothers”) who cared for them while their mothers worked. Taylor’s “co-mother,” Carol Lee, has a small part in the film.
• The film was shot on location in and around Greenwood, Miss., and the citizens of Greenwood willingly pitched in to find period props for the film by digging around in their attics and basements, and many played extras in “The Help” as well. Even producer Brunson Green’s grandmother’s dress wound up in wardrobe.
•  Octavia Spencer, who plays Minny in the film, is a longtime friend of director Tate Taylor, having met him when they both worked on a film. The two eventually became roommates in LA for four years. In addition, producer Brunson Green (also from Jackson, Miss.) is also a longtime friend of both Taylor and Spencer and the three used to hang out together, occasionally with Kathryn Stockett, author of “The Help.”
• While growing up in Jackson, Miss., Tate Taylor, Kathryn Stockett and Brunson Green would regularly be treated to milkshakes and grilled cheese sandwiches at Brent’s Pharmacy soda fountain. The production was able to recreate the real Brent’s Pharmacy as it was back when they were children.
•  Local chefs were brought in to make sure foods used in the scenes, from fried chicken to congealed salads, were regionally correct and also correct for the times, and a conscious effort was made to make it all look homemade—not fancy or store-bought—to add to the authenticity of the film.
• Cast members spent a whole day in a ballroom learning how to do period dances, including the bunny hop—taught by Sissy Spacek.
• A dialect coach, hired to make sure everyone’s southern accent was perfect, flew into Jackson, Miss., to record accents for the actors. Even the real southerners in the cast were coached in the proper way of speaking specifically for the Mississippi Delta. Allison Janney picked Producer Brunson Green’s mother’s accent to emulate for her character, Charlotte. In 1963, Mrs. Green was the same age as the character Skeeter, played by Emma Stone.
• The mothers of Tate Taylor, Kathryn Stockett and Brunson Green all have appearances in “The Help.”
•  Due to the intense summer heat in Mississippi, the filmmakers adjusted the schedule to shoot only indoors in the middle of the day. Exteriors were shot in the early morning and late afternoon.
•  Director Tate Taylor grew up visiting Greenwood, Miss., as a child and would later spend nights in the home used for the interior of Skeeter Phelan’s house. Taylor was college buddies with the homeowner’s son.
•  The Mayflower Café, a Jackson, Miss. landmark, where Stuart and Skeeter eat oysters in the movie, is one of Director Tate Taylor’s favorite restaurants. It is the place where Taylor ate his first raw oyster as a child.
• The movie theater that Skeeter observes in the beginning of THE HELP while getting gas was the theater Director Tate Taylor went to as a child. It closed down in the 1980s and was brought back to life by the production crew. The gas station is a yoga studio today, but was transformed back into a gas station for the shoot.

The post The Help-In Theaters August 10th appeared first on The Mom Maven.