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Home , Brownstone Productions, Dumb and Dumber, Elizabeth Banks, Elizabeth Mitchell, Max Handelman, The Next Three Days

46ILLUSTRATION JAN | FEB 2010 BY THEJOSH COCHRAN GAZETTE HOW TO SUCCEED IN SHOW BUSINESS BY REALLY, REALLY TRYING She’s played an amateur porn actress and a president’s wife, produces movies with her (fellow alum) husband, and is now poised to direct her own first film. C’96 is working almost as hard as she did at Penn. By Caroline Tiger

THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE JAN | FEB 2010 47 year is 1993. The setting is a hosts, but she’s still working around the Her first role was Pontius Pilate in Jesus THEdouble in the Tri-Delt soror- clock and taking little time off between Christ Superstar—the robe handily cov- ity house on Penn’s campus. An alarm projects. “I like being busy,” she says. “I ered her cast. Banks’ high school theater clock sounds around 6:00 a.m., rousing do better when I’m juggling a lot of teacher, Ralph Hamann, told their home- two sophomores. The one named Liz things. When I have down time, I get town paper, the Berkshire Eagle, “There gets out of bed and makes her way to the bored and lackluster, and I don’t really were depths she revealed at an early age. I bathroom to start her day. The one feel like myself.” It’s not the most unusu- could say to her, ‘Liz, take the stage,’ named Rebecca falls back to sleep. After al sentiment from a Penn grad, but meaning, the space is yours. She would getting dressed, Liz slinks through the according to Stewart, “In a sea of over- know what to do, instinctively.” He recalled silent house and out the door to her achievers, Liz was a standout.” her star turn as Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man Faculty Club work-study job at an hour Three years ago, Banks added pro- of La Mancha. During one performance, that, in college time, may as well be the ducer to her resume when she and her when an unfortunate combination of a dead of night. husband, C’95, found- thunderstorm and the opening of the Liz Mitchell C’96, who changed her ed . She’s also auditorium’s air vents led to puddles on name to Elizabeth Banks when she occupied being the face of Loréal cos- stage, she didn’t miss a beat. became an actress to avoid confusion metics, preparing for her first directing Banks’ husband, Max Handelman, with of fame, gig, and doing speaking engagements claims the critical moment occurred remembers Penn as a time of constant in support of A Woman is Not a Pre-existing later, during her freshman year and his work. “I think I slept an average of three Condition, a National Women’s Law Center sophomore year at Penn. Soon after to four hours a night all four years I was initiative to persuade Congress to pass they met at an AEPi party and started there,” she says over the phone one health-care reform legislation that includes dating, she was trying to choose between November afternoon during a lunch affordable coverage and benefits for trying out for cheerleading or trying out break on the shoot of The reproductive health. for a play. Says Handelman, “I told her, ‘I Next Three Days, the movie she’s film- can’t imagine dating a cheerleader so I ing with . Her sophomore- hen Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell think you should go for the play.’” He’s year roommate and good friend, Rebecca Wfirst arrived in Philadelphia from sort of kidding. Max and Elizabeth’s Stewart C’96, now an anchor for Fox her hometown of Pittsfield in western fateful meeting happened on her very News in Hartford, Connecticut, remem- Massachusetts, she was well acquaint- first day of school. (Liz remembers the bers Banks left most days at 7 a.m. and ed with hard work but not so much exact date: September 6, 1992.) didn’t return until 11:30 that night. with city living. The small-town girl Handelman, on campus for Homecom- By sophomore year, Banks was run- had never ridden in a taxi. Still, Banks ing Weekend in November to screen Sur- ning the work-study program at the wasn’t easily cowed. Stewart remem- rogates, a sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Faculty Club—a choice gig that allowed bers befriending her one day early into Willis and one of the first films he and her to keep up with the pulse of the freshman year when a group of hall- Banks co-produced, recalls that long-ago school by dining with professors. Even mates in the Lower Quad was hanging moment. “The house had run out of beer better, the free lunches meant she out in someone’s room, and Banks so the party was pretty much over,” he didn’t have to spring for a full meal- started belting out Grease tunes. says. “The brothers were kicking people plan. Banks also did catering and acted Though she was theatrical on arrival, out.” He spotted Liz in the sea of people in a children’s theater group that per- she didn’t plan on becoming an actor. gathered outside and noticed she was formed for local schools. It was her She didn’t know exactly what she wanted standing with a friend’s little sister. He first foray into extracurricular theater to be, but Banks knew what she wanted grabbed that friend and said, “Let’s go at Penn. Her first Penn role: playing to make: plenty of money. “I was itching talk to your sister.” The two started dat- Aunt Polly in a production of Tom to study theater, but I knew I didn’t want ing immediately. They married in 2003. Sawyer. Between rehearsal every night, to be a starving artist,” she recalls. “That There was no talk of Hollywood when work-study every day, going to classes, was not on the agenda for me.” they were undergrads. “Liz is one of those being in Delta Delta Delta, trying to So how did someone so determined people who could be good at so many dif- have a social life, and doing all the not to be an actor end up producing ferent things,” Handelman says. “I had no class work necessary to graduate movies starring Bruce Willis and star- idea she’d go on to become a celebrity, but magna cum laude, it’s easy to see how ring in movies opposite Russell Crowe? it doesn’t surprise me that it happened.” Banks didn’t have much free time. Growing up in Pittsfield, a working- Banks’ designations as Homecoming Life isn’t so different now, even if the class town where her mother was Queen of Pittsfield High and magna cum 36-year-old has gained celebrity by star- employed at a local bank and her father laude graduate of Penn are a reflection of ring in movies including The 40-Year-Old at the plant, Banks the versatility that’s characterized her Virgin, The Uninvited, W, and Zack and was a dedicated athlete until she broke acting career. She feels equally at home Miri Make a Porno. Her packed schedule her leg sliding into third base during a in a drama as she does in a comedy, even may include stints in Cannes, on various high school softball game. The teenag- if she’s better known for her funny mov- red carpets, and on the couches of Jay, er filled the ensuing void in her after- ies and regular appearances on TV’s Dave, , Jimmy, and other talk show school schedule with acting. . She credits her part in 2001’s Wet

48 JAN | FEB 2010 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Hot American Summer—a low-budget worked at the William Morris Agency Stone saw a buttoned-up first lady. comedy that evolved into a and before segueing into luxury-brand mar- After seeing Virgin, Stone called her in ended up launching the careers of a num- keting. “Not Liz. She has fun with it. It’s to audition for the part of in ber of comedic actors, including Paul not lost on her that she’s at the Vanity W. He says he knew the moment he met Rudd, , and Amy Fair Oscars after-party, sitting next to her she was Laura. Banks had a giggle Poehler—for starting her down the come- Tom Ford and Uma Thurman.” fit on the drive home from the audi- dic path. She played Lindsay, a camp Combined with her Homecoming Queen tion—a reflection of her incredulity over counselor who makes out with lifeguard beauty, that earthiness made her a favorite such a surreal experience. She couldn’t and future Banks’ co-star Rudd while a with the flock of writer/directors whose believe Stone had handpicked her for camper apparently drowns. That role films feature man-children and the women the part. Stone sang her praises after the helped land her a small but memorable who love them. Judd Apatow, the godfather movie wrapped, saying he’d call her role as one of Steve Carell’s potential first of the latest wave of these comedies, whose “Laura” on set because she embodied the flings in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Seth other films include Knocked Up and last role so completely. She has played plenty Rogen, who worked with her in Virgin, summer’s , cast her in Virgin; more dramatic roles: Jeff Bridges’ wife in suggested Banks for the role of Miri in in Zack and Miri; and David Seabiscuit; the photojournalist daugh- Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Directed by Wain in and ter of a famous stage actress, played by Kevin Smith, who first gained fame with 2008’s Role Models. Banks has no problem , in the indie film Heights. the foul-mouthed but soft-hearted low- delivering the boys’ bawdy lines and Her character in The Next Three Days embracing scenes like the one in Virgin is a prisoner who’s been wrongly accused where her sex-crazed bookstore clerk’s of murder. You can usually tell which bathtub romp scares away Steve Carell. kind of movie she’s working on—drama When Zack and Miri came out, she or comedy—by the color of her hair. explained her apparent lack of inhibitions Appearing on Leno during the filming to the L.A. Times: “Sex is ridiculous on all of Three Days, she pumps her brunette “ BETTER WHEN I’M JUGGLING A LOT OF THINGS. WHEN I HAVE DOWN TIME, I GET BORED AND LACKLUSTER, AND I DON’T REALLY FEEL LIKE MYSELF.” budget favorite Clerks, Zack and Miri concerns two longtime non-romantic levels,” she said. “As a woman, I don’t see locks with one hand and tells Jay this is friends who hatch a scheme to solve their it as a big romantic thing. We have needs her “serious movie hair.” money problems by putting their bodies as human beings. I’m not a self-serious Presumably that’s the hair she sported to work and (surprise!) find themselves person in general, and I’m not somebody back at Penn for her serious interviews falling in love. who believes that women have to uphold for jobs in fashion, finance, and con- Talking to Banks on the phone, it’s the code of morality for men.” sulting. With her grades, she didn’t easy to see how Rogen could envision Despite flirtations with immorality, she have trouble getting interviews, but her as Miri. Her quick, throaty (and now claims to be a major goody two-shoes. she was never very convincing. “The famous) laugh punctuates her real life “I’ve been in the same relationship with interviewer was constantly asking, ‘Are conversation as frequently as it does the same person for 17 years,” she points you sure you want to do this?’” she her movie conversations, and she tends out over the phone from Pittsburgh, “so, recalls. “‘Are you sure you want to work to tell it exactly like it is. According to you know, you don’t really get a reputation at McKinsey?’” Though she knew she friends, fame hasn’t changed the girl as being a wild woman.” She doesn’t lie. wanted to make money to pay off her who was just as matter-of-fact and hilar- She’s never done drugs. She won’t run a loans, she didn’t feel strongly about ious in college. “A lot of people do change yellow light. “This is all about how I any of the careers that paid big bucks. and start to believe their own hype,” was raised.” Maybe that’s why, where She had no desire to study for the LSAT

RUVEN AFANADOR RUVEN says friend Carineh Martin C’95, who Rogen saw a fledgling porn star, Oliver and much desire to continue acting.

THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE JAN | FEB 2010 49 Her theater friends were applying to Which kind of actor would she like to her character into the lawyer needed in drama school so she followed suit, be? She’s still wavering. “Look, I’d love to the script’s third act. These instincts for applying to NYU, Yale, and the American have a brand because brands make storytelling also come into play when she Conservatory Theater in . money. That’s one of the first things they and her husband hunt for properties to “I loved school,” she says, “so the idea teach you at Penn,” she points out. “Being acquire for Brownstone. “We have com- of more school appealed to me.” But the branded is not a bad thing, I just don’t plementary skills,” says Handelman. “I loans didn’t, and corporate job offers know if I’ve figured out what it is yet.” like to be a strategic thinker. I like look- beckoned. Happily, her uncle encour- She says this between shooting scenes ing for material and asking, ‘Is there a aged her to pursue her dream and go to for the big action drama with Russell movie here?’ Elizabeth is very good with drama school, telling her, “These jobs Crowe. “Frankly, I’m surprised I haven’t the details of how to extract the compel- will be here for you in two years.” been doing more comedy. One reason my ling aspects of the story.” After graduating from ACT in 1998 husband and I are developing movies is Banks takes storytelling very seri- with a masters degree, Banks immedi- to develop comedies. That’s what we ously. “It’s a tradition that goes back to ately started acting in commercials for really like to make, it’s where a lot of our when we were living in caves and acting products like Dove soap, Crest tooth- friendships lie, and it’s personally just out the history of our people,” she says, paste, and “alcopop” beverage Zima. a necessity because there are so very “or when we’re teaching our children by She was focused on paying off those few movies for funny women.” telling them stories, or just as a way of loans. Handelman, by then working for Still, her acting role models are Meryl trying to make sense of the world around the investment bank and brokerage Streep and , not . us.” After 10 years in the movies, she’s house Solomon Smith Barney, was And she’s definitely interested in “seri- realized that an actor is merely a cog in transferred from New York to the firm’s ous movies.” According to Allison Brecker the storytelling machine. Actors strug- office, and the couple Shearmur C’85, president of production gle to craft perfect little moments—puz- began their West Coast life together. at , the studio behind Three zle pieces that are then manipulated Banks worked steadily, dealing with Days, Banks actively pursued that role. and fitted together by editors, effects, the de rigueur rollercoaster of rejec- “Her reading was undeniable—the pas- and ultimately the director. tion and acceptance. Says Carineh sion, the emotion,” says Shearmur, but Only the director has ultimate control Martin, “It’s a really challenging indus- the actor’s campaigning was the x factor. (or the closest thing to it), which is why try. It takes its toll on you mentally if She reached out to director she’s eager to direct for the first time this you’re not a strong person with a strong to express her interest. “Her entrepre- January on a short comedic film pro- foundation and sense of self.” neurialism and ambition kept Liz in con- duced by the , known for Before long the breaks started coming: sideration,” Shearmur says. comedies like There’s Something About her role in Wet Hot American Summer Mary and Dumb and Dumber. Shearmur, was followed by 2003’s Seabiscuit, a seri- hat seems to engage Banks most who knows about these things, predicts ous drama that was nominated for seven Wthese days is storytelling, an inter- Banks will succeed as a director. “I think Academy Awards. In the summer of 2005, est that was nurtured at Penn, where she Elizabeth has an interest in the written The 40-Year-Old Virgin opened at #1 at majored in communications with a con- word and a respect for writers and an the box office and turned out to be that centration in theater arts. Digging deep insight into story that will make her a year’s 19th top grossing film in the U.S. into Shakespeare texts via Penn’s theater great producer and director,” she says. A lot of people saw it. classes proved to be an essential founda- “Her interests lie in the total experience tion for an acting career. “It’s fascinating of the film, not in how it relates to her.” In 2008, when W, Zack and Miri, and Role how many actors I meet who are not famil- It seems Banks has reached another Models—a “bromantic” comedy starring iar with the classics, who are not familiar turning point in her career. It’s a quieter and in with basic storytelling,” she says, “who moment than the W/Zack and Miri/Role which Banks plays Rudd’s put-upon law- can’t tell the difference between a com- Models triple-release in 2008, but maybe yer-fiancée—came out back-to-back, a rash edy and a drama, and who don’t know, the fame generated from that wave will of magazine and newspaper articles fea- for instance, that A Midsummer Night’s allow her the luxury to slow down, stop tured breathless interviews that revolved Dream is a comedy.” working so hard, and take some time to around two themes: “Elizabeth’s Golden These skills serve her well in many figure out what she really wants. Age,” touted , por- capacities—for example, when she’s col- “I do want a little more control over traying her as an actor on the brink of laborating on the script for , a telling stories,” Banks says. “I mean, I major stardom. The second theme: Who is Brownstone property in development could totally bomb at directing. It could Elizabeth Banks? A comedic actor or a that’s a comedy about a cappella groups go horribly. But I will work very hard, dramatic one? Will she be branded one or (the type of people, says Handelman, he like I always do. I’ll put in my best effort the other based on these movies’ fate? The and Banks knew at Penn). They served her and hope that I have some talent for it.” answer: Reply hazy, try again. All three well when she accepted the part of Beth in So far, it’s been a winning formula.◆ films did respectably well, but none was a Role Models, then took Beth from one- to breakaway success. Banks continues to be three-dimensional by suggesting the Caroline Tiger C’96 is a freelance writer in offered both types of roles. arm-candy role be fleshed out by making Philadelphia and a regular contributor to the Gazette.

50 JAN | FEB 2010 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE