This is going to sound condescending but I swear I don’t mean it in that way: I’m so proud of Elizabeth Banks. I find her really inspirational. I think she’s funny, talented, smart, cool and unapologetically political. She works constantly as an actress and she’s often the best part of even a bad or mundane film. And now she’s moved into producing AND directing. She produced the sleeper hit Pitch Perfect, and when the sequel’s director dropped out suddenly, Banks stepped into the director’s chair very quickly (and like a BOSS). She’s been promoting Pitch Perfect 2 all week in Europe, and she covers this week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter. You can read the full piece here – it’s full of quotes from directors, studio executives and producers who love, respect and fear her BOSS-ness. Some highlights:
Getting to be a rare woman directing a studio film: “The list of women who get to make studio-level films is very short. And I’m not quite in that club yet. Until this movie comes out, then we’ll see. This shoot is the test. I like to get A’s.”
Why she goes after what she wants: “Some big actresses told me a few things that inspired me. One said that the biggest challenge for a female actress was to make sure they are not profoundly bored. Another told me to just do whatever you want — do anything. And another told me that her quote hadn’t changed in 15 years. That really lit a fire under my ass.”
Paying attention to the directors she’s worked with: “I don’t stay in my trailer. I like to sit in video village, probably to the annoyance of some producers and directors, because they really love to talk about actors and they can’t in front of me.”
A little shade thrown at Tara Reid: “There was a group of us girls coming up. A lot of us are surviving. Some of us are not. I used to go to auditions with Tara Reid. So, you know, we didn’t all make it. We’re not all still here.” But she quickly adds, “I do love Sharknado.”
She doesn’t want to direct Fifty Shades Darker: She doesn’t want to make indies or female-targeted melodrama — she rolls her eyes at the suggestion of shooting Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey sequel. “I like entertaining people,” she says. “I want to make big entertainment.”
Her mantra: “I got a lot of balls in the air at all times. But my mantra every day on this set is just one word: Endure.”
It’s crazy to think that at the beginning of Banks’ career (the late ‘90s, pretty much), she and Tara Reid really were up for the same parts. Insane, right? Reid is 39 years old now and Banks just turned 41, so they are contemporaries, which blows my mind. Anyway, I don’t think Banks meant to blast Reid, I think she was just trying to make a larger statement about the women she came up with in the industry.
Banks has been in Europe promoting the film all week – I’m including some assorted photos below. Banks doesn’t get even credit for having really great, interesting style.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of THR.
I feel proud of her too! I think she’s great and I really want her film to do well.
No secret that Tara Reid’s career isn’t exactly stellar.
Good for her. The Tara thing was sort of tactless, but I’ve said things before without thinking them through that came out in an insensitive way. That’s what I think happened there.
Me too, I bet she said it and instantly caught herself. Sadly there’s not much to correct it with a compliment besides Sharknado.
+1 I agree. I’m sure she has compassion for Tara. But just stating facts sometimes can come across as tactless depending on the context. Anyway who knows Tara might have another comeback in her, even bigger than Sharknado. You just never know!!!
Kaligula
There was Sharknado 2 you know!
@FLORC lol exactly
It’s not a secret but there was no need to single out Tara. It wasn’t nice, Tara agrees… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3064937/Tara-Reid-takes-high-road-Elizabeth-Banks-s-diss-admits-comments-sad-hear.html
Oh dear, her boobs in that pink dress…..
If I were Tara I would feel sad too. Banks kinda went for low hanging fruit there.
I love Elizabeth Banks as an actress, she seems able to do it all, comedy, drama. She has played the long game smartly in her career and she will probably have longevity. But there’s no need to kick Tara Reid when everyone can see that Tara’s a mess and ruined any chance of a serious career.
Sadly Tara Reid blew a good start to a career, even if her roles were comedy, she could have parlayed that initial fame and success, American Pie, The Big Lebowski ,into something more and gone for more small roles in quality films and built a solid resume’, instead she seemed to take the fame and use it to open doors to the best and worst parties in town. She basically became known as a party girl and not an actress anymore.
Elizabeth seems like a smart lady, love her.
I can’t stand her. She’s always throwing shade. Remember when she said celebrities were “genetically superior”. Please. She is average in acting and beauty. It’s funny how some of the most talented and beautiful actresses always downplay themselves while people like Elizabeth always have to assert how great they are.
Lol she said that, oh my.
I like her in films, I don’t know much about her personality. I am just reading about her here.
Pretty sure that was said in jest…
Winston Churchill said a joke is a very serious thing.
Lol.
Here’s what she said about her beauty: “Your funny gets developed pretty early on. I didn’t quite believe I was pretty for a long time. I never thought about it. I’m very genetically blessed, I cannot deny it, but I work hard at keeping myself together. Yes, I have nice cheekbones and skinny legs but I can’t take any credit for it.”
Here’s what she said about celebrities and their thinness:
“I like to believe that if I had carried my own baby, I would have bounced back. But who knows? And by the way, it’s such a horrible — women should not be expected to bounce back … it’s a, I think, a true disservice what’s going on right now with all these celebrity moms … first of all, I just want to remind people that celebrities generally are genetically superior human beings on a certain level anyway … they’re mostly thin, you know, they got trainers, they work out, they’ve got money, they’ve got the ability, you know, and they are normally genetically predisposed to being thin people anyway, so like these women who are holding up, you know, certain people as their benchmark after they’ve had a child, like just go be with your kid for a minute … don’t get to the gym right away. It’s alright. This is not how it’s supposed to be, everybody. Calm down.”
She might be trying to be helpful but she does use weird wording to tell people to not be fixated on what celebrities can achieve body-wise, I think. I can believe she’s genetically blessed with being thin, but unless you equate thinness or being blonde 100 per cent with beauty, it wouldn’t have struck me to think of her in the same vein as Natalie Portman or whoever else. She kind of looks like Chelsea Handler….
I guess the genetically superior thing in the second quote could be read as a joke, but she emphasizes it again by noting the genetic predisposition of celebrities….so I don’t know…I can’t tell. I get what she’s trying to say and I think she is trying to be helpful rather than cast shade on anyone, but it does read sort of oddly. I don’t know if they’re really predisposed to being that thin when it comes out years later in some memoir what they had to do to be thin (i.e Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, etc).
I like her. Her actings is good, her behind the camera is good, her style is awesome. And with the rare slip she gives really good interviews.
Way to take her comments out of context. She was actually making a really great point about how typical women often hold themselves up to celebrity women after having babies and how it’s unhealthy because apart from often being genetically blessed to begin with (let’s not pretend this isn’t true of most women in Hollywood), celebrity women also have trainers and chefs and all the benefits most typical women don’t have post birth. This is a conversation that this very website has had on multiple occasions. If you’re going to knock her, find a better example.
Ouch. The Chelsea handler comment was a bit harsh. Handler looks like a sun baked handbag.
Oh please. So everyone who is thin is a celebrity and everyone else is not? I pride myself on taking care of my body and treating it as a temple. I think I look better than her but then again I’m only 21 so maybe that’s not fair. But I can’t act or sing so whatever. Guess I’m just a nobody for going to dentisyry school instead.
No HiHeyHello
You missed the point entirely. Your statement is a propositional fallacy. Just because all celebs are thin (and in america that is 99% true) does not mean that all thin people are celebs.
@G0tch4 You’re right — the Handler comment was a bit harsh. I can see a resemblance around the mouth and teeth area, I think. Handler is crude for sure, while I don’t think Banks has a reputation for being so. It’s just that Banks has one of those nondescript faces that are a bit hard for me to remember. I get why other people would find her attractive — but she’s sort of like Sam Worthington to me. I have to keep looking at her face several times to remember what she looks like, and when she goes away for awhile, I again forget what she looks like. The only reminder I have of her face is to remember that she kind of looks like Chelsea Handler (imo, of course. I wouldn’t assume that others agree).
I agree with perplexed… her looks are unremarkable. Most of the time, I picture Rachel McAdams and think isn’t one enough? She really looks like Handler in the pic with Rebel Wilson… I think it’s the unflattering center part in her hair.
It’s kind of sad how Tara Reid ended up, since it’s easy to forget how good her career was back in the day. She worked with the Coens, Robert Altman, had a hit franchise and was making regular appearances in a bunch of cult movies like Cruel Intentions and Josie and the Pussycats. Sad that she partied her career away.
Yeah, alcoholism is a bear and it just really messed her up.
Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes… sorry.
Tara Reid was a serious It Girl for a while there. Out of the American Pie cast she seemed like she was going to be the star. It’s so strange to see where she ended up.
I don’t see it as shade. When someone becomes a joke or to mention them is to evoke a type it is a reference not shade.
I don’t think she would have stuck around regardless of her partying. The girl cannot act her way out of a paper bag! I watched American Pie recently and ALL of the acting was terrible. She was exceptionally bad though. I didn’t see it when the movie came out but no, I don’t think she would have been some big actress. In The Big Lebowski she was the worst part of the whole movie. I can’t believe they even cast her.
Sometimes I really like Elizabeth Banks and sometimes I just want her to close her bloody mouth. Sometimes I think she’s joking and sometimes I really don’t. She comes across as a little arrogant.
I will play my favorite game for this one:
Say something nice: Elizabeth Banks
I love those orange, wide leg pants. And they look amazing on her. Very few girls can wear those and look good in them. They are a very unforgiving style of pant. They can make you look short and squat as hell. When you are not.
She is a funny girl. I do enjoy her work in films. And I loved her snarky, smack talking Gail… in Pitch Perfect.
Say something nice?: Tara Reid.
*Sigh* Sadly, Tara believed her own hype. She is now rumored to have become a full time yacht girl. But she did it to her self. There is a whole handful of those girls, from this generation of actresses, that things have not turned out positive for them.
I don’t feel as if Elizabeth Banks was shading Tara. As much as Elizabeth realizes that one of her biggest hurdles to getting a acting job… stopped being a name even mention for the same roles. At one time… Tara Reid was the go to girl.
Like Lindsay Lohan was…. now both have dead careers.
Leo made a similar observation as Elizabeth Banks did in one of his interviews a couple of years, reflecting on those he was in competition with when he was younger and how the industry just ate them up and they are no longer here. He didn’t name names, but one was obviously Jonathan Brandis. The other was much more ambiguous and some guessed he was talking about River Phoenix or Brad Renfro. I thought he may have been referencing Bridgette Andersen, another blonde child actress who died of a heroin overdose at a young age.
I thought he was talking about Brad Renfro, who would have been more DiCaprio’s contemporary. And I found that (and Banks comment) interesting, because when you’re ‘coming up’ you see the other actors in your group a lot on the audition circuit. Look at DiCaprio’s posse – that’s how they knew each other. It must have been interesting on the women’s side…
I may be dating myself but actually he was clearly talking about Jonathan Brandis and Christopher Petteit (sigh…Young Riders). Neither Renfro or Phoenix are the correct age to be contemporaries. Phoenix maybe but he was already a huge star when Leo hit the scene.
I believe he was talking about Christopher Pettiet, who is now mostly forgotten but back in the early 90’s he and Leo were good friends (there are pictures of them together) and they auditioned for the same parts – they were pretty much the same age, both blond, blue-eyed, thin and considered cute, with the same opportunities, but Pettiet died of a drug overdose in 2000. River Phoenix and Brad Renfro were not his contemporaries – Renfro was 8 years younger and Phoenix was only 4 years older, but he died when DiCaprio was just a teenager.
Edit: I didn’t see your comment Mia4S when i posted mine.
I will admit I had never heard of Christopher Pettiet until now. Good to know.
Ugh, I get sad every time I read about Jonathan Brandis. I agree that he and Leo were contemporaries, too.
It must be weird to be a child actor going on auditions and seeing the same people almost every time. You’re always in competition with each other, but you probably feel you should be friends, anyway, or at least get along.
Eh, she speaks the truth, it’s tough.
I remember when DiCaprio talked about how of his two main competitors for roles as a young teen one died of a drug overdose and one committed suicide. I thought that was shady until I realized it wasn’t aimed at the actors but at the industry, and being a bit amazed he made it. Fair enough.
Total Girl Crush! I just remember not being able to get enough of her on “30 Rock”. So good.
I am both excited and nervous for Pitch Perfect 2. I love the first one so much, I will be so sad if this one stinks. Please let it be fun!
I LOVE her. My favourite role by her was in Wet Hot American Summer!
She’s wonderfully assertive, which I think you need to be in this industry. But she comes across as a shark herself (hanging around directors when she knows they want to freely bitch, but can’t because she’s there) or as a martyr (by saying she must “endure”..wtf? Don’t we all as we go through life?)
She’s in a tough job, I get that. I would not want to be her competitor or her underling, that’s all.
anyone have a link to that article about Leo?
I’ll give her credit for her style. I love it.
I love almost everything about that Hollywood Reporter cover – the outfit, the overall styling, the pose, the setting, the furniture, the colors.
Now if only that had let her shut her mouth.
Im ADORING everything she has on in these pics
It seems orange pants of one kind or another are a must-have item for this summer. Just saw Emily Ratjowski (sp?) in something very similar to EB’s cover outfit here….
I love her!! And she’s way too good for anything 50 Shades-related.
Never heard of her, but that jab at Tara Reid was mean-spirited. Tara has her issues, but she’s no Lohan.
I like her a lot and really think she said the Tara Reid thing impulsively. She did make a good point, though.
I agree. It came across as though her comment slipped out.
It is so weird to me that she is so close in age to Tara. Their career paths are just so different, you know?