“I’ve signed on to being exhausted for the next 25 years,” the 38-year-old actress says, kicking off her studded stilettos and settling into a sofa at the Four Seasons Hotel.

That’s the price of being a working mom with a successful career that includes starring in three films this year, a recurring role on “30 Rock,” a burgeoning production company and various other projects in different stages of development and production.

“I do like to work,” she said. “I’m very much a sleep-when-you’re-dead person.”

Banks has a very personal connection to “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” She read the pregnancy manual while preparing to start her own family and said it kept her sane during the scary transition into first-time parenthood.

She and her husband, producer Max Handelman, welcomed son Felix last year, opting to use a gestational surrogate after facing infertility. Banks connected to the film adaptation of “What to Expect” because it’s less about pregnancy and more about parenting.

“When I was going through my battle with infertility, I got wonderful advice, which was: Why are you so worried about the pregnancy? Just get the baby whatever way you can get your baby,” she said. “Pregnant women would say, ‘Yeah, pregnancy is really great and lovely, but then you go to the hospital and they give you your baby and you have to mother it.’ That’s the part that’s important, mothering the baby, and at the end of the day, that’s what this movie is about.”

Banks plays Wendy Cooper, a perky lactation expert and pregnancy authority whose own expectant experience isn’t the glowy, blissful one she’d hoped for.

“All the not-so-wonderful things about pregnancy that are possible — like flatulence, acne, constipation, swollen ankles, fatigue and anxiety — happen to Wendy,” said director Kirk Jones. “Elizabeth Banks is just a genius comedian and she played everything so beautifully.”

Though Banks wore a fake tummy in the film, “a prosthetic belly is not the same as being pregnant.”

“It’s an approximation of the physicality you have as a pregnant person,” she said. “It makes you walk differently and sit differently, eat differently, and it provides a wonderful shelf for your coffee mug. And it’s heavy, so your back aches, so it’s a wonderful approximation.”

Though the part didn’t really make her feel pregnant, Banks admits she was “definitely moved at the end (of the film) when they all got a baby.”

The actress will be back on screen next month in “People Like Us,” which she describes as “a beautiful, wonderful story about people who find family.” Next up is “Pitch Perfect,” which she produced with her husband: A comedy set in the competitive world of collegiate acapella. Banks said it’s the hardest she has ever worked.

“It’s like birthing a baby almost!” she said. “Until it’s out to the world, there’s no end to worrying about it.”

The film is due in the fall, right when she returns to the world of “The Hunger Games” to film its second installment, “Catching Fire.”

Her turn as the super-coiffed Effie Trinket has won Banks younger fans and reinvigorated her passion for acting.

“I just love Effie so much,” the actress said. “She’s a really amazing character, a complicated, interesting, wild character to play — the type of character that when you’re a young actor you dream of getting to play, and I get to do it now.”

Even if it is all a little exhausting.

ottawacitizen.com

The star-studded two-hour event will be airing live Sunday, July 22 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on FOX.

Choice Movie: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
“The Avengers”
“The Hunger Games”
“Mirror Mirror”
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
“Wrath of the Titans”

Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Robert Downey, Jr., “The Avengers”
Chris Hemsworth, “The Avengers”
Josh Hutcherson, “The Hunger Games” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”
Taylor Lautner, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”
Robert Pattinson, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Lily Collins, “Mirror Mirror”
Vanessa Hudgens, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”
Scarlett Johansson, “The Avengers”
Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games”
Kristen Stewart, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”

Choice Movie: Comedy
“21 Jump Street”
“American Reunion”
“Crazy, Stupid, Love.”
“The Muppets”
“What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

Choice Book
“The Hunger Games” trilogy, Suzanne Collins
“The Giver,” Lois Lowry
“The Twilight Saga,” Stephenie Meyer
“Divergent” trilogy, Veronica Roth
“The Lucky One,” Nicholas Sparks

At the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with most of the cast, and every day this week I’ve been posting a new interview. If you missed them, here’s Chace Crawford with Anna Kendrick and Cameron Diaz with Matthew Morrison. And up next I’ve got Elizabeth Banks and Ben Falcone. During the interview they talked about making the film, karaoke songs, how much changed on set, if they added anything to their characters, and a lot more.

collider.com

Daniel Minahan (True Blood, Series 7: The Contenders) will direct from Ball’s original screenplay, and Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, The Savages) and Ball will produce.

Myriad has acquired all rights outside the U.S. and Canada and is pre-selling in Cannes. The film is scheduled to start shooting in early 2013 in Los Angeles. UTA Independent Film Group packaged the film and is arranging financing. SVP Business Affairs David Ducar negotiated for Myriad. UTA IFG repped the filmmaker and producers and will sell U.S. and Canadian rights.

deadline.com

It’s not a time to idly let your favorite movies go unrecognized. Is it time for Rupert Grint and Emma Watson to steal the Best Kiss glory away from repeat winners Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson? Was Jon Hamm a bigger dirtbag than Jennifer Aniston?

You have to rise up, sit down and make your voice heard for the 2012 MTV Movie Awards, and this isn’t just us telling you. A new promo for the awards features the likes of Captain America himself, Chris Evans, and someone you may know as Effie Trinket, Elizabeth Banks, and they have the very same message for you.

A number of stars have assembled to spread the message of this year’s MTV Movie Awards. Not only are Evans and Banks on hand, but Chloë Moretz, Kristen Bell, Liam Hemsworth and Anna Kendrick want you to get up as well.

But obviously, every movement must have a fearless leader, and this year, host Russell Brand is just the man for the job. After two stints as host of the Video Music Awards, Brand will lead the charge and encourage everyone to rise up and sit down for the 21st annual MTV Movie Awards.

The MTV Movie Awards is your awards show, and it’s up to you to make sure the winners reflect that. The awesomeness begins on Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET and will air live on MTV. Voting will be open in all 12 categories until Saturday, June 2, the night before the show.

“I’ve signed on to being exhausted for the next 25 years,” the 38-year-old actress says, kicking off her studded stilettos and settling into a sofa at the Four Seasons Hotel.

That’s the price of being a working mom with a successful career that includes starring in three films this year, a recurring role on “30 Rock,” a burgeoning production company and various other projects in different stages of development and production.

“I do like to work,” she said. “I’m very much a sleep-when-you’re-dead person.”

Banks has a very personal connection to “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” She read the pregnancy manual while preparing to start her own family and said it kept her sane during the scary transition into first-time parenthood.

She and her husband, producer Max Handelman, welcomed son Felix last year, opting to use a gestational surrogate after facing infertility. Banks connected to the film adaptation of “What to Expect” because it’s less about pregnancy and more about parenting.

“When I was going through my battle with infertility, I got wonderful advice, which was: Why are you so worried about the pregnancy? Just get the baby whatever way you can get your baby,” she said. “Pregnant women would say, ‘Yeah, pregnancy is really great and lovely, but then you go to the hospital and they give you your baby and you have to mother it.’ That’s the part that’s important, mothering the baby, and at the end of the day, that’s what this movie is about.”

Banks plays Wendy Cooper, a perky lactation expert and pregnancy authority whose own expectant experience isn’t the glowy, blissful one she’d hoped for.

“All the not-so-wonderful things about pregnancy that are possible — like flatulence, acne, constipation, swollen ankles, fatigue and anxiety — happen to Wendy,” said director Kirk Jones. “Elizabeth Banks is just a genius comedian and she played everything so beautifully.”

Though Banks wore a fake tummy in the film, “a prosthetic belly is not the same as being pregnant.”

“It’s an approximation of the physicality you have as a pregnant person,” she said. “It makes you walk differently and sit differently, eat differently, and it provides a wonderful shelf for your coffee mug. And it’s heavy, so your back aches, so it’s a wonderful approximation.”

Though the part didn’t really make her feel pregnant, Banks admits she was “definitely moved at the end (of the film) when they all got a baby.”

The actress will be back on screen next month in “People Like Us,” which she describes as “a beautiful, wonderful story about people who find family.” Next up is “Pitch Perfect,” which she produced with her husband: A comedy set in the competitive world of collegiate acapella. Banks said it’s the hardest she has ever worked.

“It’s like birthing a baby almost!” she said. “Until it’s out to the world, there’s no end to worrying about it.”

The film is due in the fall, right when she returns to the world of “The Hunger Games” to film its second installment, “Catching Fire.”

Her turn as the super-coiffed Effie Trinket has won Banks younger fans and reinvigorated her passion for acting.

“I just love Effie so much,” the actress said. “She’s a really amazing character, a complicated, interesting, wild character to play — the type of character that when you’re a young actor you dream of getting to play, and I get to do it now.”

Even if it is all a little exhausting.

washingtonpost.com

“I didn’t carry my own baby,” Banks told Celebuzz about becoming a mom via surrogate, last year.

“I made a baby cake and I baked it in an angel’s oven. That’s one of the few pregnancy experiences that his movie does not explore. It explores lots of other ones but not gestational surrogacy, which is how I had my son, Felix.”

Even though she wasn’t pregnant herself, Banks remembered having hormonal episodes leading up to the birth of her child.

“The Thursday before my son was born, I was just driving to coffee with my husband and I literally burst into tears,” she recalled.

“I was horrified that this was the last Thursday of my life before I was going to be responsible for another human being for the rest of my life! ”

Although she’s never been pregnant, Banks got a taste of the experience while working on the movie.

She and cast mates Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez were given prosthetic breasts and tummies to wear under their clothing.

“Mine had giant areolas like horrifyingly large salami slices,” laughed Banks. “I thought, ‘That’s the size of my face!’”

celebuzz.com

We had the opportunity to speak with two of the film’s stars, Elizabeth Banks and Ben Falone recently about the research that Banks did into the world of Mommy bloggers in preparation for her role and how they themselves referenced the original book as parents.

Take a look at our video interview below:

amctheaters.com

I can exclusively reveal that The Hunger Games star is receiving the Navigator Award at this year’s Maui Film Festival…

“Elizabeth Banks embodies the talent, intelligence and charisma that are the touchstones of what the Maui Film Festival looks for in the film artists we honor,” fest director Barry Rivers said.

The award ceremony will include a Q&A and a screening of her DreamWorks Pictures’ flick People Like Us at the Wailea Gold & Emerald Golf Course.