(CNN) — Viola Davis might have received an Oscar nod for playing a maid in “The Help,” but the actress told CNN she’s glad not to be wearing an apron in her latest movie.
Davis plays a librarian named Amma in Richard LaGravenese’s “Beautiful Creatures,” though the character was actually written as a maid in the book series that inspired the film.
“I’m tired of that,” Davis told CNN of playing housekeeper roles. “We played — me and Octavia [Spencer], Aunjanue Ellis, Roslyn Ruff — we all played maids in ‘The Help’ and it was fabulous, it’s a fabulous story because we were personalized and all of those things, but I think that people need to see an African-American in the 21st century integrated in the life of this town and family who’s not in servitude.”
Davis also gushed about her green costars, Alice Englert and Alden Ehrenreich.
“They weren’t thinking about ‘everything is resting on my shoulders, how are people going to receive the movie?’ That is not your job as an actor,” she said. “They were artists doing their job, in the moment, without vanity, with courage. And that’s what I respected about them, I really did. There’s no sense of stress in any of them. … It was wonderful to watch.”
“Beautiful Creatures,” which also stars Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Emmy Rossum will hit theaters on February 14.
CNN’s David Daniel contributed to this report
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