Teeth Turn Black

How An Author's Best Friend Turned 'The Help' Into a Movie

Before agreeing to produce “The Help,” the movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel about black domestic workers in 1960s Mississippi, DreamWorks Studios head Steven Spielberg needed some assurance. Over breakfast in London, he told producer Chris Columbus—director of the first two “Harry Potter” films, as well as “Home Alone,” among others—that the only way he was going to back the production was if Mr. Columbus agreed to be on the set every day.

“He said, ‘You’re going to produce this. You’re not going to just put your name on it and walk away,’” recalls Mr. Columbus, who moved to Greenwood, Mississippi for nearly five months to supervise the $25 million production, directed by Ms. Stockett’s best-friend, Tate Taylor . DreamWorks Chief Executive Stacey Snider, who had read Mr. Taylor’s script and loved it, said that Mr. Columbus’s imprimatur was “an important element for us.”

“The Help,” which will be released on Aug. 12, will likely turn Mr. Taylor, whose previous projects include a 29-minute film called “Chicken Party” and a low-budget comedy about a woman who had gastric-bypass surgery, into one of the most in-demand directors in Hollywood. That he actually got to direct such a big-budget summer movie was largely a matter of luck (he bought the film rights before the book became a literary sensation) and good connections (he was friendly with Mr. Columbus).

Speakeasy caught up with Mr. Taylor over the phone from Atlanta, where he was staying at Ms. Stockett’s house.

So, this book was published in February 2009, and you owned the film rights before it was published?

That’s what’s so funny. I got the film rights in May of 2008 from Kathryn. She said she had been turned down by 60 people, and said, “Here, you go — tell me what you think.” I was just captivated and couldn’t believe my friend had done this. It was just awe inspiring. I wanted to make [the film], and she was getting appropriate advice from everybody telling her that she was crazy to let me have the rights. I can’t say I blame them for thinking that. We eventually got comfortable with the idea. Once she was on board, she was on board.

Were you able to envision how big of a project this would eventually become at that time?

I started writing the screenplay in May 2008. And at that time, I was adapting my friend’s unpublishable manuscript. And Brunson Green, my producing partner and I, set out to make an independent film. I said, “You know what, Kathryn? We’re going to make a great indie and maybe that will help you get a publisher.” I had the sheer luxury of writing this unencumbered with no input from a studio or anyone. Creatively, I really learned a lot from that. I’ve seen projects where there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen at the beginning and I understand why things sometimes change too much.

White wine stains teeth too! « Godley Station Dental

Skipping the red wine, coffee and tea isn’t enough to keep those pearly whites gleaming. White wine can turn teeth dingy, too, says a new study from New York University.

The culprit, which a lot of beverages share, is acid.

“The tart taste that we get out of the wine — that’s actually an acidity,” says Mark Wolff, a dentist at the New York University College of Dentistry.

Acid erodes the enamel on teeth, Wolff says, causing rough spots and grooves that leave them vulnerable to stains from colored food and drink. Red wine is worse than white because it has a lot of an intensely colored pigment called a chromogen.

“It’s a very color-intense molecule,” Wolff says. “It stays right on that tooth structure, turning the tooth bluish brown — like a blueberry would.”

Testing On Real Teeth

Many foods and beverages — like cherries, cola, coffee or tea — contain these pigments, but the stain doesn’t always stick. Wolff and his team wondered why. So they experimented with a couple of handfuls of cow teeth, which are similar to human teeth, only a lot bigger and easier to work with — about 2 inches long by 1 inch wide.

The researchers took clean cow teeth and submerged them in three beverages: black tea, red wine and then white wine followed by black tea. They let them soak in each for an hour, which researchers say is similar to the effect of sipping wine or tea with dinner.

Red wine — no surprise — left a deep, dark stain on the teeth. Black tea did not. But the teeth dunked in white wine and then tea turned a “nice shade of brownish red,” says Wolff.

Even though white wine alone doesn’t have much color, the acids it contains were enough to rough up the tooth enamel and leave it exposed to the coloring from the black tea.

Red wine produced stains that were even darker, Wolff says, because it contains more pigment and more acid, which etch the tooth enamel and help the color to stick. Wolff and his team presented their research Wednesday at the International Association for Dental Research in Miami.

The Usual Suspects

The acidic erosion isn’t just a problem with wines, says Wolff. An abundance of citrus drinks like orange and grapefruit juice, lemonade, most sports and energy drinks and sodas also contains acids. And that’s part of the problem.

Essentials of Homeopathic Therapeutics

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