Answers with Elizabeth Banks

Answer 1

You've been married for over a decade. Do you even remember the last time you had a walk of shame?

My husband and I went to some big party in New York one night, and we just had one of those nights where we went home and the sun was coming up. And I believe that it was that moment where we were like, We need to have children, because this is crazy; we're too old for this. The shame was all about just feeling that we knew better than to do that, and it still happened anyway.

Answer 2

Now that you actually have children, you're not really going on any benders like Meghan?

No, not right now. But I'm looking forward to them again, someday soon! [Laughs] We haven't ever gone on a vacation without them, so we just need to go away for a weekend or something.

Answer 3

You shot all over Los Angeles for this film. What was your favorite part about touring all over the city?

Downtown LA is sort of a hipster haven right now. There's so many great restaurants my favorite part about making this movie was the good food. I didn't eat a lot of it because, I don't know if you saw that dress, but I was definitely on a diet the entire time I was making this movie! But I really enjoyed finding out more about the city in which I live and discovering a lot of great new restaurants, and we shot a lot at night, so we had a lot of really fun evenings hitting the bars and really living this character!

Answer 4

Do you ever think that men have to make a walk of shame, or are men just too shameless?

Of course, they can have a walk of shame! The great thing about Meghan Miles and this night [captured in the movie] is that we are calling it a walk of shame, but I actually don't think she feels particularly shameful about what happened. This is about a woman at a crisis point who feels like she's lost control over her life, and she's really lost control over this night, so it's really about figuring out how to take control back in your own life. I think that we've all had those nights when we just want our own beds.

Answer 5

What attracted you to working on this particular film?

I felt like I knew who Meghan was, and I thought I could be funny. It really comes down to that. I really wanted to do a role that uses my abilities as a comedienne I don't get to do that very often! Or, if I do, it is usually in support of funny leading men, and I love my funny men, butI relish the opportunity of being able to play this character, present a complicated girl who is figuring out what to do with her life and is really a good girl at heart and is misperceived. I think that there are a lot of good messages in the movie, like not judging a book by its cover and the misperception of women, generally, who do certain things like go home with a man after meeting him at a bar. She doesn't have any shame about these things. I felt like she is a really free character, and I wanted to delve into that.

Answer 6

Do you relate to Meghan? Was there ever a moment when you felt that you needed to take control back in your life?

Yeah, of course. You have to see a little bit of yourself in every character you play and bring some experience to it. I spent my early twenties in Philadelphia and New York big cities where I definitely had a lot of fun nights like you're supposed to in your 20s, and I was telling someone earlier that I get easily carsick, so I hated to get into taxis at the end of the night, and I felt really lucky that I lived in really walk- able cities. And I spent a lot of nights I mean, don't tell my mother but I spent a lot of time walking home from places. That sense of finding your way that's what this movie is about.

Answer 7

Were you waiting for the right part to come along, or were the parts not necessarily there?

I think the trend in comedy lately is that they have not necessarily been there. I mean, they did a couple of House Bunny-type movies, and things like that. But I was really looking, and hoping for this kind of physical, comedic opportunity. I'm a physical comedian, and I don't get to show it off very often. I really like the metaphor of this movie-that this 24-hour walk is about this journey of self-discovery that we're all on. I also really love the Martin Scorsese movie After Hours. It's unlike so many other Scorsese movies, and I'm a big sucker for those sort of 24-hours-in-the-life-of kind of movies. A life-changing encounter can happen at anytime.

Answer 8

Was there anything that was too raunchy that you weren't willing to do, or that was cut? Is that being saved for the unrated BluRay?

I hope there's some unrated stuff! I actually think it's not raunchy enough, to be honest with you. I think we left some raunch on the table. But we had a lot of fun. Certainly, as you can tell from my career, I'm not afraid of any of those things. There's some fearlessness, but I would have pushed the envelope even further. But that's not my call.

Answer 9

Is there a new place you discovered while shooting in downtown L.A. that you'd recommend?

Church & State has a honey lavender goat cheese spread that, like, made my life on this movie. I didn't eat a lot on this movie, to be honest with you. You've seen the dress now, so you saw what I was up against, and also, I had to be in my underwear next to James Marsden. So I worked out a lot and dieted, so I really treated myself to this honey lavender goat cheese.