'The Help' actress Emma Stone takes cues from novel

SAN FRANCISCO -- Emma Stone didn't get around to reading the best-selling Kathryn Stockett book "The Help" until after she'd agreed to be in the movie. Stone plays Skeeter, the independent young Southern woman who, in 1960s Mississippi, decides to write a book about the black maids who worked for white families, including her own.

She found the script to be rich, but the novel turned out to be a blessing.

"This was the only time I had ever done a movie based on a book, so it was like having this whole plethora of research that you don't have to come up with. The background is right there. In 120 pages of a script you can't say everything," Stone says in her lush, husky voice. "I also was lucky to be one of three characters in the movie who are partial narrators of the book. So you are actually in Skeeter's head in her chapters."

The book saved Stone from her usual pre-filming panic. She worries as the start day approaches she hasn't done enough research to play the character properly. All she had to do during the filming of "The Help" was to go back to the book if she had questions.

Along with "The Help," Stone can be seen in "Crazy Stupid Love" and "Friends With Benefits." She jokes that while it might seem like she's really busy, she's got nothing coming out for awhile. The biggie is next year's reboot of "Spider-Man," where she plays Gwen Stacy. Stone says she has no "five-year plan" but just considers herself lucky to keep landing good and varied roles -- from psycho girlfriend to social activist.

"The great thing is getting to be different people all the time," Stone says. "It really makes you feel like you are allowed to have multiple personalities, which is pretty cool. It's always challenging. It's always terrifying. But it's like being a kid forever."

She says she has a deeper appreciation for her artistic freedom after making "The Help." It gave her a glimpse of a time when a woman who wanted a career was an oddity.

It might feel like Stone's a veteran because she's been so busy lately. But the 22-year-old Arizona native is relatively new to acting. She got her start as Laurie Partridge in the 2005 "The New Partridge Family" TV movie.

That's why she made sure to learn as much as she could from her veteran "The Help" co-stars: Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek. "I can't believe people keep putting me in movies because I'm such a leech. Every movie is a master class," Stone says. "To be told you are going to act with people like this, it's totally ridiculous.

"I just try to soak up all that I can."