While chatting in Beverly Hills with actress Elizabeth Banks about her new thriller Man on a Ledge, we asked her about playing Effie Trinket, the colorful escort/advisor of the District 12 tributes in the March 23 release of the popular “Hunger Games”. Turns out she was a huge fan of the novels.

TeenHollywood: So how did you get interested in being in The Hunger Games film?
Elizabeth: “Hunger Games” I followed for a long time. I was a very early adopter of “The Hunger Games”. I read the books long before they were best-sellers and I’m very friendly with Gary Ross (writer/director). We made Seabiscuit together. So, when Gary was going up for the job, we had conversations about Effie and we kept that conversation going while he put together the rest of his cast.

Then he brought me into his office and we had a long conversation at the end of which I was like “If he doesn’t say I’m playing Effie I’m gonna punch him in the face” [she laughs]. But he said “All right. If you want to do it, you can do it.”

TeenHollywood: In the books, Effie is so colorful and over the top and her outfits are amazing so that had to be fun.
Elizabeth: Yeah. I got to collaborate. Everyone involved is Academy award-nominated from Gary Ross to the hair and make-up team to the costume designer. They are pretty good at their jobs. The best thing about making The Hunger Games is that Suzanne Collins (author of the books) sort of blessed the whole process so people are like “How are you handling the pressure?” and, to me, once she’s happy, there is no pressure. That’s who I needed to please and I’m really pleased with my interpretation of Effie. I really feel like she’s what I imagined when I read the books so I’m pretty excited.

TeenHollywood.com

Elizabeth Banks is scheduled to be a guest on the talk show “Live With Kelly” this month! The show will air on Thursday, January 19th. Check your local TV listings for exact air times in your area!

Man on a Ledge sees Elizabeth Banks sharing the screen with Sam Worthington, and we have an exclusive clip of the drama to come when the film hits big screens on Jan. 27. It was one of Sam’s first starring roles after Avatar, and Elizabeth has her own huge movie coming our way when The Hunger Games comes out this Spring. Their collaboration is one of many big movies out in January 2012 — take a look at the excitement below.

Elizabeth Banks is featured on the cover and inside the February 2012 issue of “Lucky” magazine! Check out a preview of the cover and a behind the scenes below.

The first trailer for the new film “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” has just been released! The film will be in theaters on May 11, 2012!

A.C.T. graduates Elizabeth Banks and Annette Bening will be honored at the theater’s Conservatory Awards luncheon, to be held at San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel on Tuesday, January 24.

Bening, a four-time Oscar nominee, will receive The Edward Hastings Career Achievement Award, while Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks will receive The Rising Star Award.

In addition, A.C.T. will honor A Noise Within founders Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott with the Contributions to the Field Award; philanthropists Frannie and the late Mort Fleishhacker with The Benefactor Award; and The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, which has set up a multi-year scholarship fund for the M.F.A. Program, with The Champion Award.

The event will support M.F.A. scholarships while bringing together a group of like-minded supporters of the Conservatory to celebrate A.C.T.’s accomplishments with award winners and with current M.F.A. Program students.

For tickets and more information, click here.

If you’re as excited for The Hunger Games as we are, then you’ve no doubt seen the trailer and wish it was coming out, like, tomorrow.

Of course, it doesn’t hit the big screen ‘til March, so in the meantime at least we can count on Elizabeth Banks for some hungry deets.

So, what exactly did the sometimes outspoken actress have to say?

First, from gutsy Jennifer Lawrence and yummy Liam Hemsworth to the friggin’ amazing post-apocalyptic plot and the quirky Effie Trinket, there are plenty of reasons we want to see The Hunger Games when it hits theaters!

And in case you couldn’t tell through her cotton-candy hair and seriously terrifying makeup, Elizabeth Banks plays the role of perky PR guru Effie, and she dished to Entertainment Weekly how she came up with her character’s unusual voice.

Banks—never one to be overly mysterious about things—said quite clearly her Effie was to be “theatrical,” with equal helpings of old movie star Rosalind Russell (Banks called her performance in Auntie Mame “just amazing”) and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story.

And just like in the books, Banks’ character is in charge of drawing the names of a boy and a girl from District 12 to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised event in which only 1 out of 24 participants will survive.

We can just imagine Russell or Hepburn handling that task just fine in 2012, can’t you?

Indeed, Banks offered a taste of what she calls “a little highfalutin” Effie Trinket in the trailer, but we can’t wait to see more!

And if you really can’t wait until March 23 to get in on this action, read the books, they’re amazing. We promise.

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