Monday, November 30, 2009

NEW YORK/ESQUIRE magazine articles

http://nymag.com/news/features/62379/?imw=Y&f=most-viewed-24h10


http://www.esquire.com/features/abortion-doctor-warren-hern-0909?click=main_sr

RE: NEW YORK's "The Abortion Distortion" by Jennifer Senior &
ESQUIRE's "The Last Abortion Doctor" by John H. Richardson

These two articles, taken together, add much to the debate over reproductive rights in America today. The authors both had access to clinics in Midwestern cities and saw firsthand the need for access to reliable doctors, clinics and most importantly, information about family planning.

Whatever your thoughts on reproductive rights, MORE information, education and access to family planning services will REDUCE the number of abortions performed each year and that should be the goal of both sides in this debate. Please encourage funding to these clinics so that they may continue to service the needs of American women.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

WRITE YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE!!

Feel free to copy & paste:


Dear Senator Feinstein:


Please don't eliminate legal family planning procedures such as abortion from a federally-funded healthcare plan.


This will force lower- and middle-income women to use extreme measures to end unwanted pregnancies, endangering more lives. This also creates two classes of women: those who can afford legal abortions no matter their insurance and those who cannot. This is a dangerous proposition for our country.


Sincerely,


Elizabeth Banks

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

New Role, New hair

Some before and after pics - I'm a brunette again!


I'll be playing a convicted murderess opposite Russell Crowe in Paul Haggis's new film. He did "Crash". Psyched to be back in Pittsburgh where we shot Zach & Miri Make a Porno. Thanks Rain, for coming down to welcome me, remind me just where I'm at and which season I'm entering. Just so I won't be confused with my home in LA where it's sunny and 90 degrees.

The G20 is here this week and there is a military-like staging area just behind where I'm staying. There's cops everywhere. Riot gear. Let's hope for a peace-filled week.

Thanks to the Allegheny County Jail staff for allowing me an all-access tour of their facility today. They have an immaculate, well-run institution. It was fascinating. And thanks to the inmates with whom I spoke so candidly. I wish them well, whatever brought them to that place. They were watching a Cuba Gooding Jr. movie when I came in but nobody minded when we paused it.

Note in the brunette pic - no make-up!


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Pics by Matthias Vriens

It was a photo shoot all about Max Mara coats, which, as you can see, are sublime.


Gotta get back to work - shooting The Details in Seattle with Tobey Maguire, Laura Linney and Dennis Haysbert.

New pics


This is one of the coolest pics ever taken of me - thanks Matthias Vriens, photog and Max Mara. This is running in Italy.


Italy, where I would like to be right now. Haven't been since 03. Highly recommend.



Thursday, August 6, 2009

TACO TIME from SNL makes me laugh

Monday, May 25, 2009

B&W "Getting Ready" pic

You can just make out some yachts in the background of this Cannes pic. 


It looks like I'm naked or in a towel in this photo but don't get excited because, in fact, I'm wearing a robe. I had to pull it down so the stylist could curl the back of my hair which he is doing in this photo as I ponder the economic crisis and whether those yachts are in bad taste. 

I decided it was "all cool." 

Cannes photos..

It's Cannes! 


That's the Croisette and the bay as seen from our hotel room at the Martinez. 

It's sorta like Santa Monica if Santa Monica was the South of France, you know? 

This is the first day of the festival when there's nobody in town. By the following day, there were swarms of people everywhere and cars lined up on the Croisette barely moving. 

I know Cannes is old news already but I'm just getting my pics uploaded after a weekend drinking margaritas in honor of the vets. 


Thursday, May 21, 2009

CANNES


I just got back from the Festival de Cannes (as they call it) and a few days of hanging in Paris. It was pretty good. 


I had my man with me, we went on a yacht, ate cheese, drank Negroni's. Not all in one night. 

We saw UP in 3-D (adorable) and Precious (the opposite of adorable, but great). So I guess it was better than good. 

I'll post some personal pics soon. 

For the budding fashionistas out there: red Armani Prive and silver Zac Posen. 


The closest I've felt to "I've Made It"

Being a clue in People's crossword! 


It's not the NYT but I'll take it. 

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Women In Film's giving me an award!

Cool company, right? 


I'm not sure what Face of the Future means, but it's a little sci-fi, a little naughty and a tad preposterous. 


Sunday, April 26, 2009

17 AGAIN - A REVIEW

I went to see 17 AGAIN this past weekend. Not because I have an 11-year-old daughter. Not because I am an HSM fan - never seen it! No, I plunked down my soft-earned money for this flick for one reason: I am a 3?-year-old woman inappropriately lustful of Zac Efron (Ya got me, media, especially you, GQ!). 


First, a disclaimer: I really enjoyed this movie and everybody's performances in it (I do like working in this town). Zac Efron did not disappoint. He's charming, makes use of many fingers while "twirling a basketball" (you get it) and looks great with his shirt off (some term that "star power"). 

Here's the thing though - the message of the movie seemed to be (and again, I may just be reading too much into the twirling fingers thing): knocking up your high school sweetheart is A-OK! Especially if you give up that Syracuse scholarship to marry her! F College! 

Now, I am all for taking responsibility. I am. Which is why I wish this flick had dealt more directly with this little situation that served as the jumping off point for a PG-13 movie (attended by lots of kids not yet in the double digits). It tries to make up for it with a scene in which Margaret Cho tells us that "abstinence is best but let's get real: just use condoms when you're screwing around with each other." Now, that statement at least gets close to something: if you're gonna have sex, be safe.  (Question: Why didn't Hunter Parrish also take his shirt off in this flick?)

Unfortunately, this scene would have had a lot more impact if Zac Efron's character not only acknowledged that sex can lead to babies but also that having a kid when you're 18 is hard, hard, hard. (Spoiler alert: he should know, see, cuz that's what got him into this crazy mess!) Also, he doesn't want his daughter (again, born when he was 18) to have sex with her high-school sweetheart yet his most powerful argument against it - HAVING A KID WHEN YOU ARE JUST GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL IS HARD - I KNOW, I'M REALLY YOUR DAD! - never comes up. He's just like, "fingers crossed!" Now, of course, the daughter does not have sex (totally unrealistically) and ends up lusting after Mr. Efron (totally realistically, who wouldn't) and it's creepy and weird. 

My point here (sorry, I was looking up "image Hunter Parrish" on Google and got off-track) is that this movie kinda glamorizes teenage parenting. It basically says: Go for it! Have a kid when you're 18. Throw another one in for good measure right after and you'll get a nice house, deck and hammock included, your baby mama apparently won't need to work, your kids will eventually have ipods and get into Georgetown and the person you picked (when you were 17) IS actually your soulmate! Don't worry if the condom breaks - it's cool! It's totally worked out for Bristol, ya'll! (Is it me or is Levi cute?)

The problem with this message is that, according to unreliable online sources and my own anecdotal evidence collected over my 3? odd years: this is crap. It's a great Hollywood story (I really enjoyed this movie, did I say that?) but in reality, teenage parents (mothers, especially) face increased levels of poverty, lower education rates, and higher chances that their daughters will also end up teenage moms and their sons will end up in jail. (I would like to see Zac Efron and Hunter Parrish fight Channing Tatum in a jail flick). 

An interesting thing about the movie is that there's a message buried in it - there's a fun thread of social satire pointing out that kids today obviously live in an overly-sexualized world that glamorizes the act so much, they practically have no choice but to bang each other (one cheerleading sequence took me back, the other disturbed me). But the satire was above the pay-grade of the 8-year-old sitting behind me. I'm pretty sure he/she (what's with all the long hair?) saw the movie like this: out-of-wedlock teenage pregnancy leads to falling off a bridge into a magic tornado, inappropriate dancing between a MILF and the star of HSM,  buying cool Ray Bans with your rich friend's Black Amex, winning back the girl and, finally, running through a magic tunnel that makes your clothes suddenly fit you even though you just instantly gained 40 pounds. 

Now suspension of disbelief is no problem. Seriously, this film is a fun ride. I just wish the flick had EXPLICITLY mentioned, just mentioned, that it might NOT be cool to have a kid when you're 18 SO for G-D's sake, use birth control! Matthew Perry admits to Leslie Mann he's been in a bad mood for 20 years. Well, having a kid when you're still one yourself might do that to you! Say it out loud. For the sake of the 8-year-olds. 



Friday, April 10, 2009

25 Funniest Women in Hollywood - EW.com

Thanks EW! Better than a marshmallow peep this holiday weekend! 



Monday, March 30, 2009

LUCKY in MAY!

I almost wrote, "I'm a cover girl" but then panicked that the L'oreal people might get annoyed ..... but anyways, I'm on the May cover of LUCKY magazine and I am feeling pretty lucky that it turned out as fresh as it did since I shot this sucker the day after the Oscars (I was what the docs refer to as "crapulent" about 8 hours prior to arrival - it's real, look it up). 


So thank you to Stewart Shining (photog) and the hair and make-up crew and coffee for making this possible. Also thank you to the folds in the yellow dress for making my boobs look big(ger than reality). 

And they let me keep those earrings! Which is pretty hot (note I am wearing them in the Vegas pics too). 

Buy the mag (to make me seem cool so I can be on other covers and also if you wanna see the inside pics)!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Vegas

To hangover or not to hangover, that was the question I pondered as I celebrated a belated b-day with my ladies in Vegas last Friday. Answer: hangover. Thank DOG for a late flight out. 


The cake was very pretty but I never saw it again after these hot chicks (note cleavage) sang the bday song, which was too bad because when I finally went up to my room, I would've loved something to nosh on. That's Yiddish for eat. 

Monday, February 23, 2009

TWITTER - it's really me NOW

Here's the thing: you should not impersonate somebody online or anywhere else for that matter, famous or not. You should not pretend to be me, for example. On Twitter, specifically. 


You will get found out. Like when you "twittered" that I was doing "A". But David Wain (director of Role Models out on DVD March 10!) was sitting at my house and knew for a fact that I was doing "B." So when he got "my" twitter, he replied to you. And then you felt terrible and now we are all good because you gave me back my identity. So that's something. 

I appreciate that you are a fan. But seriously? 

I appreciate the apology. I will now Twitter as ME! And you can follow along if you like. 

Oscar Night Fart Paws


It's over! Awards season, that is. I went to some parties and made some serious faux paux. That's fancy French for "public f-k ups." Like did you know that Brits don't really like Sting that much? The cool Brits anyway. Not sure why. But I will never talk about liking Sting with British people ever again. I mean, if they bring it up first, then fine. Otherwise, my lips are sealed. Because it was total foot-in-mouth. 


I also asked one famous person how their spouse was. Being nice. Like one does. The answer: we're divorcing. Fun times. 

Ryan Phillippe is cool. He's talented and handsome. He's always nice to me. He made the ultra-suave move of shaking my hand across a table: "It's been a long time," he says. To which I reply some gibberish: "yeah-um-us-an-then-love-seeing-your-work-um-cool" with the kicker being that I gave him the decidedly uncool two-thumbs-up. WTF? Two thumbs up? What am I, his grandmother? His Aunt Bessie from Nova Scotia? Who does that? I'll tell you who: me. Fart paw. 



Sunday, February 22, 2009

IFC/AMC Spirit Awards

Presented with my ol' friend, "Mr. Gorgeous" Bradley Cooper at the Spirit Awards. Ya'll know we go back to Wet Hot American Summer together. David Wain is actually staying at my house right now while he works on his next script and "takes some meetings." 


The Spirits were made amazing by an incredible speech from Mickey Rourke (a must-see) that made me want him to win at the Oscars tonight because whatever he ends up saying in his acceptance speech will be priceless. ABC must be shitting themselves because if the number of f-bombs he dropped yesterday is any indication, ABC will be paying a bunch a fines when he wins. 

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

LENO FRIDAY 30th/UNINVITED OPENS!


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Uninvited & other random crap


As you have all guessed by now, I am completely computer illiterate. At least, I am especially not blog savvy. I don't even know how to make these pictures look better. Anyway, go see The Uninvited, it opens Friday, January 30th. It is a cool movie. I try to only make cool movies. I think I've established a decent track record so you can trust me. This one is cool. And scary but in a good way. And I play a badass. Which was fun for me and hopefully for you to watch. 


Thank you, MySpace peeps, for checking in. I know I'm supposed to be on Facebook (and maybe I am under a crazy pseudonym!) but I can only handle so much incoming. And I'm not psyched by the "why don't you add me, bitch?" pokes or whatever from perfect strangers. I can't get to everything. I'm sorry. Believe me, I love the passion of fans and I appreciate any interest, I do. So let's agree I'm doing my best here and I'm not ignoring you or ungrateful. We're all busy. Personally, I realized about 3 years ago that I will be tired for the next 20 years. Non-stop. Exhausted. 

I am actually writing this on a little down-time from making L'Oreal commercials. I'm pretty psyched about them. I love this company. And I have to go to bed soon so I don't have nasty puffy eyes with dark circles under them. Since, like I said, I like this job and want to keep it. 

Oh, I saw Vince Neil on the street today. Yup, formerly of Motley Crue, foe of Axl Rose, Surreal Life "star" and strip poker afficionado, Vince Neil. In front of a Beverly Hills nail shop. I can only presume he was waiting his turn for a buff and shine. Love that guy. 

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Tides Zihuatanejo - so relaxing.

Fireworks over the beach in Mexico. 


Happy New Year! 

Resolution: every time someone offers me water, I must say yes. I don't drink enough water. 

Stay hydrated! 

THE TONIGHT SHOW 1/30

Doing LENO on Friday January 30th!

UNINVITED Jan 30th


I think I was just trying to take a pic and accidentally shot video? Anyway, this is from the day I did press for The UNINVITED. That's Jessica. She's cool. 

MySpace

Wow, it's 2009 and I have a Myspace page. 

I'm pretty sure that's the lamest thing ever but somebody offered to make it for me so there it is. It had a really bad pic from imdb at first, I promise to change it. 
So, okay. I guess add me as a friend? is that how it works? 
And maybe don't write mean stuff or solicit any sexual favors, cool?