2011 seems like a lifetime ago. That year, The Help earned multiple Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture. I’m not sure it would get the same kind of reception today, things have changed so much. The film also earned Octavia Spencer an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, defeating her co-star Jessica Chastain. Now, after all of these years, Spencer and Chastain are reteaming on a new movie, Deck the Y’alls, from the writer of Girls Trip.
Deck the Ya’lls is a holiday comedy that sends Spencer and Chastain back down south, in this case, South Carolina. Chastain plays a New York baker who falls for a Southern gentleman, and heads to Carolina to spend time with his family. There, she butts heads with his overprotective mother, a celebrity chef played by Spencer.
Wanda Sykes is also in the cast.
The script was written by Girls Trip‘s Tracy Oliver and Stefanie Williams. No word on who will direct just yet. I would be shocked if The Help director Tate Taylor wasn’t on the shortlist, especially since he and Spencer are close friends.
Chastain recently signed on to star with Ben Stiller in The Off Weeks, an Apple TV+ series from Michael Showalter. Spencer was recently seen at the Tribeca Film Festival in the drama Tow alongside Rose Byrne and Dominic Sessa.
Filming on Deck the Ya’lls begins next year.
