Emma Stone Living Out Dream With 'The Help' Role

With roles in "The Help," "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Friends With Benefits," this has been the summer of Emma Stone. But the 22-year-old's role as Skeeter Phelan in "The Help" marks a big departure from her previous onscreen personas. Gone are the now-token red locks and girl-next-door vibe that have become so familiar. Instead, Stone is a blonde, curly-haired modern woman determined to tell the true story of what it's like to be a black maid in 1960s Mississippi. On the surface, Skeeter might seem like a big change from the Stone audiences have come to know and love, but "The Amazing Spider-Man" actress said she has a lot more in common with her character than it might seem. "When I was younger, I always wanted to be a writer or a journalist, and I don't think I'd be much good at it, but it was really wonderful to kind of live out that dream through acting," Stone said when MTV News caught up with her during Sneak Peek Week. "She's curious about people and curious about her life and is questioning why things are the way they are, and I've definitely done that too, as I'm sure everyone has." The kinship Stone felt with her character didn't make her any easier to play, though. She had to adopt a Southern accent for the flick and also get in the mentality of what it's like to be a Southern woman. Fortunately, Stone's mother was raised in Louisiana so she was able to share her own experiences. Her co-star, Bryce Dallas Howard, had an easier time because she had previously played a Southern woman in "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond." But in that flick, Howard's character came from a very different environment and background than Hilly Holbrook in "The Help." She told us that filming the movie in Mississippi helped her get into the right mindset. "I feel like, in the movie, you get a sense of true authenticity in terms of the period and obviously the setting because we shot the film in Greenwood, Mississippi," Howard said. "I think it made all the difference in the world." Check out everything we've got on "The Help." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Emma Stone Photo: MTV News