Portraits in black and white

Taylor, a highly expressive talker, was better known as an actor. He’d directed just one feature, the comedy “Pretty Ugly People’’ (2008). Still, it’s no surprise Stockett would have entrusted Taylor with the rights. They had been friends since they were 5 - approaching four decades now.

The book would go on to spend more than 100 weeks on The New York Times’ Best Sellers list. It’s currently number one on the trade paperback list. So by the time filming started, the artistic dynamic was reversed. The novel’s success was now driving the project. That didn’t change the basic equation between Stockett and Taylor. “She wrote the book, but she let Tate make the movie,’’ said an approving Stone. She was on hand for the promotional tour, too, as was Octavia Spencer.

Spencer plays a cook and housekeeper, Minny. Her presence in the cast added a double twist to the back story. She and Taylor have been friends for more than 15 years. “I met Tate on the set of ‘A Time to Kill,’ ’’ where they worked as production assistants, she said. “We became fast friends and remained fast friends. Or maybe slow friends.’’

Fast or slow, they were housemates for five years after moving from the South to Los Angeles (Taylor grew up in Jackson, Spencer in Alabama). They display the relaxed, bantering interplay of people who’ve shared living quarters, right down to Taylor teasing Spencer about her shortcomings in the kitchen. When she admitted that she can’t cook, Taylor chimed right in. “You can’t even make a PB&J! I saw you rip the bread once using cold peanut butter.’’