‘Pitch Perfect’ Elizabeth Banks talks Oscar buzz, ‘Hunger Games’, ‘Love & Mercy’
By Gabriel Noble
Elizabeth Banks is everywhere. Her IMDB page has over 70 credits for a diversity of roles on both the silver screen and television. She is dressed to kill as Effie Trinket in the “Hunger Games” series, her pitch was perfect in the blockbuster sequel, “Pitch Perfect 2,” which she also directed, and now Elizabeth Banks is getting Oscar buzz for her role as the wife of Beach Boy Brian Wilson in “Love & Mercy.”
The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful rock bands of all time. Their music became synonymous with 1960s California beach culture and good times. But for the lead singer, Wilson, who suffered from manic depression with schizoaffective disorder, it was not an easy ride. In “Love & Mercy,” Banks portrays Wilson’s wife and fierce advocate, Melinda Ledbetter. Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric joined Banks and the real-life Ledbetter in EastWest Studios in Hollywood, where the Beach Boys recorded their iconic album “Pet Sounds,” to get the story behind the film, the man and his music.
With Banks’ now slated to direct “Pitch Perfect 3,” she reflects with Couric on her directorial debut of the smash hit “Pitch Perfect 2,” and how the Anna Kendricks’ performance of “Cups,” made it into the film and became a worldwide sensation.
The comedic sequel sensation has grossed six times its original budget, and with it, Banks has set the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend of any first-time director. With sexism still pervasive in Hollywood, Banks explains to Couric what she believes could balance the playing field. “Parity in Hollywood is going to require that those in power share a little of that power,” Banks explained. “So it requires a real partnership with the men in our industry.” She also encourages female directors to take the reins themselves on big-budget films “to convince the powers that be, the money, that we are capable of spending that money wisely, and turning it around, like I did with ‘Pitch Perfect 2.’”
“If I love something, I’ll do whatever it takes. And all they can do is say no,” Banks explained to Couric on getting the coveted role of Effie Trinket in the “Hunger Games” series. In fact, she wrote a letter to director Gary Ross, whom she had previously worked with on “Seabiscuit,” expressing her passion for the part. (She had written Ross a similar letter more than a decade ago to persuade him to give her a part in “Seabiscuit.”) As “Games” approaches its final installment with “Mockingjay - Part 2,” Banks — who devoured the books before she learned about the original adaptation — shared just a hint of what we can expect from the new film: “S— goes down.”
As Banks continues to rack up the credits in Hollywood, whether acting or directing, she is not afraid to express herself when the cameras are not rolling. “I was raised as an interested citizen,” Banks explained, “and so I’m just continuing something that was happening around my dinner table as a young person.” When Couric asked about several hot button political subjects, she shared that she is “not a fan” of Donald Trump, she believes that “guns should be regulated just like my car” and is enraged when people speak of defunding Planned Parenthood “when no one’s tax dollars pay for an abortion.”
