From bloodsucking evil vampiress to hateful bigot in 1960s Mississippi. Bryce Dallas Howard, who replaces Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria in the June 30 release of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” has been cast as an antagonist in the Tate Taylor-directed adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling 2009 novel, “The Help.”

Deadline New York reports that Howard will take the role of Hilly Holbrook, a “beehive hairdo-wearing busybody” liked by few who channels that frustration into her own racist treatment of her African-American maids. Howard joins a cast that already features Viola Davis in the role of Aibileen and “Zombieland” star Emma Stone in the role of Skeeter.

The book on which the movie will be based unfolds from the perspectives of three different characters: Skeeter, a white woman who comes home after college to discover that the maid who helped raise her is gone; Aibileen, a middle-aged black maid mourning the recent loss of her only child; and Minny, a black maid whose attitude has not exactly earned her much support from past employers. Each of the three stories cross over with one another, painting a picture of family life and segregation in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi.

“The Help” is Stockett’s debut novel. A well-reviewed summer 2009 release, the author spent five years working on the book and was rejected by around 50 agents before it was picked up for release.

Howard had a strong 2009, with “Terminator Salvation” and the theatrical release of the Tennessee Williams-scripted “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond.” Her 2010 will be even stronger, with the next “Twilight” movie out in June and planned releases for Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter” and the Jonathan Levine-directed, Seth Rogen-starring project that was formerly titled “I’m With Cancer.”