Elizabeth Banks Quotes

When you live in a leading lady's body, which I do, you have to constantly prove that you are funny.

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.

I'm not interested in making movies only with female protagonists. I think it's ridiculous to think that a female director can't direct men. That makes no sense to me.

Most men I know rely on women to do all the literal dirty work.

I'm lucky to have worked with great actors, my whole career.

I'm sort of the bossiest sister.

I love the finality of film. When you make a movie, you know the beginning, middle, and end.

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.

I really just drew off of where we are now, with reality TV. You can't help but see a lot of it. You choose to watch some, but with some, you just can't help but hear it and see it. It's just piercing in your brain. That piercing is what I was tapping into , with whatever they were doing to pierce into the minds of everybody. It takes a certain kind of person to shut your mind off to the consequences and just try to get results. That's what I was going for - results.

When I was in college I was accused of being a goody two-shoes. But every goody two-shoes has a bad side.

You always agree with other actor beforehand: Are we going to fake it or are you OK with me hitting you? I've never met an actor who doesn't want to really go there. I would be disappointed in myself if I was like "Don't hit me."

People ask me how I stay thin, and I'm like, 'When you go to the grocery store, buy more bananas than cookies.'

I like my coffee light.

It's really hard to stay healthy over the long term of making a movie so that's why those things matter when you're trying to keep your health, literally.

I really enjoy the direct dialogue with the fans. I'm very cognizant of my audience. I'm a trained storyteller and entertainer, and I know I wouldn't be able to work at the level I work at if people didn't enjoy what I did.

I love physical comedy. I love Oscar Wilde, I love Shakespeare comedies, I love improv.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'm really interested in making movies that people see: I've made a lot of independent films and it's really depressing when no one sees them.

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.

Being a creative person is a really personal process so there is no one-size-fits-all advice, that's kind of the first thing I'd say. Because everybody's goals are different. Everybody's talents are different. Some women that I'm talking to want to create a television show. Some women want to be a director. They want to use comedy in different ways, and I find that really fascinating. The main thing I would say is, start! Just do it. Keep going. When people come at you with the negativity and the nos, you've got to ignore it. Push through.

Every once in a while I play a true idiot, and they're really fun to play.

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.

As an actor myself, the opportunity to sing and dance and be dramatic and be funny - it's really irresistible to actors. You get to show all sides of your talent.

I do want to work on a larger scale with bigger budgets partially as a way to prove that women can do that, for sure. I definitely feel a bit of a responsibility to do that.

It's pretty easy to hear what people are physically responding to versus what's just flat as a pancake in the room when it comes to jokes.

I imagine, in the future, life expectancy is long and they use crazy plastic surgery. Who the hell knows what's going on?

You have got to have an agent. Its a business. But I think there is a way to be artful and commercial at the same time.

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.

I'm always reaching to find something that will challenge me and make me do my best.

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.

I got Twitter identity theft.

I love working with a stylist but I also love having personal relationships with designers. A stylist is great for pulling together an entire outfit, accessories included, and for shaking me out of my comfort zone.

I mean time management is a big factor in my life. I'm a very organized person. You can only do one thing at a time, so that's the main way I do everything. When I'm with my kids, I'm with my kids. When I'm directing a movie, I'm directing a movie. When I'm making Magic Mike, I'm making Magic Mike. So you just really have to fragment and focus.

If I ever complain about yachting around the Mediterranean with Madonna, who I just idolized as a child, I should be slapped across the face.

It's really fun to watch yourself disappear in the movie every day.

As an actor, you go through life thinking "This stop is the last stop," so you just put your heart and soul into everything and do your best work.

I like to say I don't have a fear of heights. I have a fear of human error. I'm very concerned about stupidity.

I actually think that secrets are just a part of human nature and that everybody should have some.

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?

I have a production company because this is the only job I know and this is the only career I have and the only industry I've ever worked in and the only contacts I have. It's like why wouldn't I produce?

I play Rock Band, which is Guitar Hero times ten. You can play with four people, so when you have parties, you have a real band. Nobody ever wants to sing, so I'm always the one throwing down on the mic.

My number one advice to high school girls is birth control. You want to keep all your options open for as long as possible? Birth control.