Elizabeth Banks: In Love with a BFF

Has it ever happened to you? You have a best pal in school; someone you tell everything to. He or she is that person who is always there for you, the one who understands all and forgives all. Have you ever realized you were in love with that person? That's what happens in the new raunchy romantic comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno. (Warning: This movie is rated "R" for obvious reasons). As Miri Linky, versatile actress Elizabeth Banks is down on her luck and, with best bud Zack (Seth Rogen), decides to make a porno to pay the bills.

Gorgeous Elizabeth is anything but down on luck these days. She is in.. well, everything! She's a love interest in the comedy Role Models with Seann William Scott, she played first lady Laura Bush in the film W and has more projects lined up. Dressed in casual elegance for our interview in jeans and black suit jacket over a white tee, Elizabeth gave off a friendly vibe that made us feel that she is probably very good at being a best friend. We learned all about her high school reunion, her feelings about romance and what is up next....

TeenHollywood: What attracted you to this story? It's really a romance with a kinky title.

Elizabeth: Yeah, I really responded to the romance in it. I think Kevin's (director Kevin Smith) a giant romantic. He likes to wrap the romance in profanity, but he loves ladies. So it was the opportunity, frankly, to play a really well-written, authentic funny woman, opposite an authentically funny leading man, which is very rare. And in an honest and equal two-hander (with Seth Rogen). Any actress in Hollywood is looking for that.

TeenHollywood: You and Seth certainly don't run around in the buff in this but did you get in top physical form just in case more of you got shown?

Elizabeth: (laughs) I was prepared to shoot it naked with the understanding that (I would) be covered mostly by Seth, so I wasn't really worried about it, and then- Kevin had always told us that he was going to try and focus this moment on our emotions and not on anything physical. And also, we really wanted a juxtaposition between the porn scenes and then love-making. Kevin said, two days before, he had this epiphany, 'I don't want you guys to take your clothes off'. I think he was going to be more uncomfortable with us being naked around him, than we were going to be uncomfortable.

TeenHollywood: The movie tries to find a balance between raunchy comedy and a love story don't you think?

Elizabeth: I think we set out to make a really fun movie. That was the number one goal. And the secondary goal was to have a great love story. And we wanted to make a romantic comedy, in the best sense of those two words. I think you have to undercut the romance. Any time the story got really emotional, we would undercut it with something outrageous. That's why it's funny. The humor is based in that push pull. If it had just been all emotional, it would be The Notebook. And if it were just porn, then it would be like a bad Adam Sandler movie. It's the combination that makes this movie as special as it is.

TeenHollywood: Do you think girls will want to see it?

Elizabeth: It's a great movie for ladies. I think Miri is a really great character, and I think it's a super romantic movie. When you leave the theater I think you'll have a giant grin on your face.

TeenHollywood: You and Seth had great chemistry.

Elizabeth: Yes. We make each other laugh. We have all the elements that go into a good relationship. We totally trust each other, and we believe that we make each other look good and I adore him on a lot of levels and I respect him immensely and he's really talented. And he's nice enough to say the same thing about me. We wanted that to be on screen at all times. Really present a realistic couple from the get go, who just hadn't figured out how to be romantically involved.

TeenHollywood: I think Seth is adorable but he's not the classic Hollywood leading man type. Do you think, with the popularity of nerd types on film that Hollywood has changed?

Elizabeth: I like looking at beefcake just like anybody, but I don't like my actual mate to be better looking than me. So I think that Seth represents that sort of every guy who, he's very soft, he is romantic and he's sweet and he's funny, and for me the biggest turn on is somebody who makes me laugh. I think that's why he is the sex symbol that he is.

TeenHollywood: Did you ever crack up in a scene?

Elizabeth: Not on this one but I've done it on other movies where I literally felt like I'm unprofessional. I have to leave the set. I feel terrible. Really, I should turn in my SAG card, it's that bad.

TeenHollywood: What movie did you crack up a lot on?

Elizabeth: On The Baxter. Justin Theroux, who wrote Tropic Thunder and he's writing the Iron Man sequel is a phenomenal actor. And he's one of the funniest mo**erf***ers around. And that a-hole made me laugh so much when we were making that movie, we literally couldn't stay on set together.

TeenHollywood: (We show her the stick figure poster for "Zack and Miri") How do you like that you're a cartoon figure for the poster?

Elizabeth: I think it's pretty ridiculous. I think there are a lot of bigger problems in this world than the world "porno." I don't get it. I grew up in a family where my parents sat us down in front of the "Nova Miracle of Life" video when I was nine, so I was well versed on where babies came from. And the dad who had a problem because his son asked, 'What's porno, daddy?" I mean, I'd have a bigger problem if my kids asked, "What's Rwanda Genocide, Mommy?" I'm wondering if that Dad lets his kid watch MTV or video games or anything else in our culture that's no sexualized nowadays.

TeenHollywood: Good point. We asked Seth so, if you were really down on your luck, would you consider making porn?

Elizabeth: No. I'm very good at making money. I've been making money since I was 11 1/2 years old, when I first started working at the Catholic Youth Center in Pittsfield, Mass, so I've been in dire straights. I think these (characters), there are other ways for them to get out of this circumstance, clearly. But sometimes it is that outrageous solution that you really feel is going to invest your life with zest and they were looking for something more than just getting out of their financial problems. They were looking for a purpose for their life.

TeenHollywood: If you were to choose a celeb to do a porno with, who would it be?

Elizabeth: Brad Pitt... and Angelina.

TeenHollywood: Oooookay! Miri isn't supposed to know how to act. How do you handle acting.....badly?

Elizabeth: It's really fun to do bad acting. We just knew we didn't want to be good at it. That was the main thing. We really wanted to be amateurs who were uncomfortable and awkward with each other and with the idea of it. Everyone has been in that situation- any woman who's had a kid, goes, yeah I think it's a great idea to have a baby, and then you get to that day when you're pushing that thing out, and you're like, 'What the f**k was I thinking!?! This is crazy'. Or you're gonna go on this rollercoaster, and you're like, 'Yup, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get on this rollercoaster'. Then you get in that seat, and, 'I should of thought a little bit harder about this'. That was that moment. It was just that moment where we were talking the talk and suddenly we had to walk the walk, and it's uncomfortable.

TeenHollywood: Have you been to your high school reunion?

Elizabeth: I went to my five year HS reunion, and it was on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, so that totally is true- that really happened. And it was par for the course. The guy everybody thought was gay, was gay. The guy everybody thought was balding, was bald. Some girls were fat. My high school boyfriend was there, and it was awkward, because we had both moved on, but we're friendly even today.

TeenHollywood: What's the back story behind your character's nickname "stinky Linky"?

Elizabeth: Kevin Smith knew a "Linky back in New Jersey, and Kevin is like a nine year old wrapped up in an adult's body, so "Stinky Linky" makes perfect sense to Kevin Smith as a nickname. But he knew a real "Linky", so that was based on a real last name.

TeenHollywood: What is your Porn name? It's supposed to be your childhood pet and your first address?

Elizabeth: Yes, Sophie Brown. She was a little white bunny, and I have now soiled her.

TeenHollywood: Awwww. You went from doing this to playing the first lady. How was that? (referencing the Bush movie W)

Elizabeth: Totally different. Every character requires different things. And, you know, Miri is very close to me. I grew up very similar to Miri, I grew up in a duplex in a working class town in Massachusetts, where it's freezing in the winter. Her physical and actual circumstances. I grew up poor, all those circumstances made total sense to me. With Miri, I got to have say over 'does she have long hair? Does she have short hair? Is she fat? Is she skinny? What is she like? With Laura Bush, those things are already predetermined. You need to nail the reality of it, first and foremost. It was much more of working from the outside in, with Laura Bush; making sure the hair and makeup and the clothes and the earrings and the voice, all of that had to be right, because there was a reality that needed to be matched, and then you do all of your research to try and find that 3rd dimension where you make her a real person as well.

TeenHollywood: Did you do a lot of research on her?

Elizabeth: I did the research, I didn't find the "crazy" Laura Bush, who's back stage, smacking him. Not happening. There's a scene in the movie when they first meet. It's really important to see why they were attracted to each other and to see that spark that happened between them. You know they got married three months after they met at that backyard BBQ. So it was a whirlwind romance. I dug through all that biographical material and I tried to hold on to little things that I thought I could play as Laura Bush. She says, over and over again that her job as first lady, is to mind the emotional and psychological health of the President of the United States. I felt like that was something I could really play. That's something that, as a supportive wife, that I understood.

TeenHollywood: Did you meet her?

Elizabeth: I did meet her, coincidentally. Not for this movie. I met her in 2003, long before I knew I would play her. She was wearing pearls and a twin set. She was very first lady-ish and had a very thick accent. Which is the first time I think I realized that she's Texas through and through. So it was very informative.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk a little about A Tale of Two Sisters (aka The Uninvited)?

Elizabeth: It comes out in January. I'm really excited. In the most simplistic terms, I play the evil stepmother, and I a base the character on Rebecca DeMornay in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. That's the vibe I was going for. You're not really sure what the motivations are and you're not really sure what her past is.

TeenHollywood: We're seeing you everywhere recently. Is everything you've done just coming out right now?

Elizabeth: I worked eight months back to back last year, but the fact that they're all coming out right now is not my fault. They're actually coming out in the exact opposite order in which I shot them. So I would have thought The Uninvited would have been out months ago and I would have thought W was coming out in the Spring. Role Models comes out November 7th, and hopefully it will be number two after "Zack and Miri" that weekend.