Actress Elizabeth Banks was in Boston to promote her latest film Man on a Ledge. The actress was born in Western Massachusetts (Pittsfield) into a divided house (her dad a New York Yankees fan, her mom a Boston Red Sox fan). Ms. Banks talked about her newest thriller, her preferences of comedies over drama and who she would love to work with someday.
Elizabeth Banks plays Lydia Mercer, a police officer who is hand picked to talk down a man on a ledge. That man is Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington), a former policeman who is sent to prison for stealing a diamond he says he didn’t take. On what she liked about her character, Elizabeth Banks, “I was drawn to the fact that she was nobody’s wife or girlfriend. I felt that gender didn’t really matter. It could easily have been a man. It felt to me like a younger John McClane. I met with some actual NYPD negotiators before we started and I asked specifically to meet a woman. I met this great lady from Staten Island via Ireland, (joking) her accent was incredible, she was really a girl and she was like 42, a mom, wore this cute Banana Republic suit and carried this cute purse that had her piece (gun) in it. She acknowledged that the police force was a Boy’s Club, but they don’t apologize for being women. She’s not out pumping iron trying to be a man. She’s a woman and her job just happens to be a negotiator. We were really intent on showing that camaraderie (between cop and cop). She (the woman she met with) has a really good track record as they mostly do. Their whole motto is that jumpers jump. In other words if you want to off yourself you go to the top of a building and jump. If you’re still standing there by the time I put my pants on, get in a taxi and go up town, get a coffee and start talking to you, your rational mind has hopefully taken over and you may want to get saved. But the problem is that if you then do go over, they take it as their fault because they couldn’t figure out the way to get you in.”
A lot of the film takes place on the ledge of a building in New York City. Worthington spends almost all the film on the ledge and Banks herself had to go out the window onto the ledge. Banks, “We were 22 stories above Madison Avenue, 14 inches of ledge, with a wired harness. I don’t particularly have a fear of heights, I’m a little bit of a thrill seeker so I thought this was going to be a little fun and it was. (Pointing at the film’s poster), That’s the view, that’s what it looks like. We went out with the wires, but you still get that pit in your stomach and your adrenaline is going crazy and your heart’s racing and you have sweaty palms. Every 45 minutes or so the stunt guys would say let’s come in, take a few minutes. I was never really out out, I was in the window mostly. I was only really out out in total if I had to think of the hours for it, a day and a half. (laughing) Sam’s out there for like 2 and a half weeks. He got really comfortable. He did things like sitting on the corner eating a (expletive) burger. He did things, just like the act of sitting, just kinda sitting there walking is fine, but any of the big motion stuff that he was doing, I was like wow. And we had camera guys out there too and looking through the view finder, they had no peripheral vision. They’re carrying 40 pound pieces of equipment and they are looking down, looking all around, everything you’re not supposed to do that put’s you off balance out there, they’re the guys that really make the movie have that oomph. It was a gift as an actor because you don’t have to wonder what it feels like to step out on a ledge. Focusing on that other actor really helps and calms you.”
Elizabeth Banks has been known more for her comedic roles, but has been in other dramatic films besides Ledge. She starred opposite Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days and she talked about the differences in genre. Banks, “I think you are best remembered by your last piece. I started out in comedy, I did a total cult comedy called Wet Hot American Summer. Then I did Seabiscuit that was nominated for 7 Academy Awards. After Seabiscuit I could not get arrested to do comedy. It literally took being in The 40 Year old Virgin, and by the way they were gonna give that role to Amy Adams, but I went and stole it from Amy (laughing). It was like a last minute, my agents begging them to see me. It took that and I was sort of doing Scrubs on the side. My point being some people only know my dramatic work, some people only know me for my comedic work. Some people only know me from 30 Rock. I prefer comedy, well I prefer great roles. Comedy, making people laugh is addicting. Comedy is much harder. This drama stuff is frankly not that difficult. It’s difficult, but a movie like this, it’s great editing. The Next Three Days was hard, very physically exhausting. I was in jail, spending most of my days away from the rest of the cast sitting in the corner crying so it’s not that fun to make those when you really have to go there. Comedy though, you gotta have an instinct. You need timing, it requires a certain skill set. You can absolutely fix jokes in an edit, but you know if someone is a funny person or not.”
One of her co-stars in Man on a Ledge is Edward Burns, a personal hero of mine. Ed is a fantastic independent filmmaker when he’s making his own movies and his movies always have a touching warmth mixed with comedy. I asked her about romantic comedies and Edward Burns. Banks joking, “Do you have one, did you write one?” Funny thing is I did have a script in my bag. Banks, “I love Ed’s films. I would love to be around him. I would love if they (Hollywood) made more Annie Hall type films, but they are hard to find. They aren’t in fashion right now.”
Last year I interviewed director Jesse Peretz about the film Our Idiot Brother which Banks starred in. Peretz said the film was a blast working on and I asked her about her experiences. “It was so fun just an amazing group of people. Everybody is watchable, likeable, fun, you’re kinda on this lovely ride with a bunch of people that you’re like I would like to hang out with these guys.”
Going back to comedy, Banks talked about her Zack and Miri Make a Porno co-star Seth Rogen, “I felt that Seth Rogen and I just loved making each other laugh. We are both easy laughs. We are very in synch. I really loved making Zack and Miri.” Asked if she’d work with director Kevin Smith again, “I would, in a heartbeat. I absolutely love him.”
Elizabeth Banks has worked with some of my favorite directors, Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, I asked her who she’d love to work with that she hasn’t already, “I’d love to work with Woody Allen. I’ve almost worked with him twice, but he’s chosen other people. I’ve met him a few times. It’s a very fun meeting. A friend of mine had met him and said he sat in a room and it’s very dark. He meets in the same place, the upper east side. My friend’s saying it’s dark, a hand comes out of a shadow and says nice to meet you and that was it. First time I went to meet him, it was lighter, but was still weird kinda in this spot light in the middle of the room. But he actually came out and shook my hand and spoke to me. I was like alright, I’m in, he came out of the shadows. I didn’t get it.”
Being from Massachusetts, I brought up the booming film industry in the state and asked her if she’d like to film here, “I would love to. I made Surrogates here as a producer which was awesome. I would love to film more here.”
Man on a Ledge opens January 27th and stars Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Jamie Bell, Edward Burns and Ed Harris.
You can follow Elizabeth Banks at www.Twitter.com/ElizabethBanks and me at www.Twitter.com/Murraymaker
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