When you live in a leading lady's body, which I do, you have to constantly prove that you are funny. Elizabeth Banks More Quotes by Elizabeth Banks More Quotes From Elizabeth Banks People ask me how I stay thin, and I'm like, 'When you go to the grocery store, buy more bananas than cookies.' Elizabeth Banks bananas cookies people I think it is really important to put out what you want so the world knows what to give you. Elizabeth Banks important giving thinking I'm always reaching to find something that will challenge me and make me do my best. Elizabeth Banks reaching challenges I think we're in a really interesting moment for women globally just in terms of, like, historically, I think we're in an interesting moment for women. Because, it's important to remember, there have always been funny, funny women. Mae West was real funny. Marilyn Monroe was in one of the greatest comedies, Some Like It Hot, ever made. I mean, it's not like we're lacking. I just think the percentage of women in positions of power in all aspects of our culture is improving and women are standing up and demanding to be heard. Elizabeth Banks real mean thinking You know, women in Hollywood, we don't get action franchises and superheroes. The rom-coms that made Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, and Reese Witherspoon stars are out of favor right now- nobody is making them. In this business, if you are an ambitious person, you don't wait for people to hand you opportunities. You have to make a way for yourself. Elizabeth Banks stars opportunity hands I am never embarrassed by something that makes people laugh. Elizabeth Banks embarrassed laughing people Sex is always funny. I don't find it sexy, I find it really horrifying. But it's an act that we need. And that need, that desire, is what makes it really funny. Elizabeth Banks sexy desire sex I don't think there's one right way to do anything. There's no one best way to be a woman. There's no best way to be a mentor. I'm just trying to be me and be authentic and live my truth and be as inclusive and interested in other human beings as possible. I'm an actor by training, which means that I study human beings and human behavior. That's what I try to do and what I love to do. Elizabeth Banks training mean thinking I am not afraid of much. I kill all the spiders in my house, and I'm planning to go skydiving. I am into girl power, and I'm very self-sufficient. Elizabeth Banks girl self house I'm not trying to have Jake Gyllenhaal's baby. I'm not a major fashionista. I'm not going through a lesbian phase. I'm just normal. I'm just really freakin' normal. Elizabeth Banks jake trying baby I met my husband in college, and we've been together for 21 years - it's the thing I'm most proud of in my life. We were trying to figure out how we could make our lives as flexible as possible and do something we both really enjoyed. Elizabeth Banks husband college trying I think it's important to present role models for young women coming up. I really do believe you can't be what you can't see, and representation matters. So, for me, it's the idea of putting women in media in ways that present them as having power, being heard, being true to themselves, and done from the perspective of women. Elizabeth Banks role-models believe thinking As a producer, I really get to tell stories that I care about in a way that I want to. I get to shape them. I get to choose the collaborators. That's really gratifying as a storyteller. And also, frankly, it's really fun to create jobs for other people. Elizabeth Banks fun jobs people So knowing that you can actually help yourself stay healthy over a long shoot where you get no sleep and what you eat really matters. It really mattered that there was a juice bar. You know? Elizabeth Banks knowing sleep long I'm perfectly happy to have the reputation as a comedian. I love comedies, I would love to be doing more comedies. But I also feel like I hit the limit on playing the girlfriend type in a lot of rom-coms that aren't actually rom-coms, but guy movies that happen to have girls in them. Elizabeth Banks comedian guy girl There's more empathetic representations than we're used to seeing. I honestly feel like in the early days of Hollywood, women did have those. Women had very traditional roles in society of wife and mother, but when they went to the movies, they got to see women be, like, really cool, amazing characters and femme fatales and all of this. And then there was just this systemic reaction where it was all about, "How do we make money?" And everybody wants to sell things to boys. And then women's entertainment became devalued in a way that I think is disrespectful and hurtful. Elizabeth Banks mother character boys I'm actively looking for things to direct again. I had such an amazing experience on this. I really am spoiled. Elizabeth Banks amazing-experiences spoiled direct I think people respond to me as a down-to-Earth, girl-next-door person, because I am one of those people. That's something I don't have to act very hard at. Elizabeth Banks girl doors thinking The great thing about Twitter is, you get a lot back, and I read through a lot, and I want my fans to know that I do read a lot, and it's why I do respond or retweet clever posts, and I'm constantly amazed by the cleverness of people on Twitter. I just think it's a really great tool to communicate with fans and influence conversations and raise awareness about things I'm interested in, that I think deserve some attention. Elizabeth Banks clever people thinking I'm very grateful to be in a position now where I have a lot more control to tell the stories I want to tell. I feel no obligation to tell any one story. I will tell you my interest mostly lies in telling stories about empowered women, but I don't feel it's an obligation. But I do feel like I am servicing a voice. Elizabeth Banks grateful interest lying
