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Elizabeth Bankstook issue with how her action movie was marketed.
Banks wrote, directed, produced and starred in2019’sCharlie’s Angelsreboot, which featuredKristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the lead trio. The movieunderperformed at the box office at the time, and when asked about that in an interview withThe New York Timesthis week, she said that the marketing campaigns didn’t align with her vision.
“Let me say I’m proud of the movie,” said Banks. “I loved Kristen Stewart being funny and light. I loved introducing Ella Balinska to the world. I loved working withPatrick Stewart. It was an incredible experience. It was very stressful, partly because when women do things in Hollywood it becomes this story. There was a story aroundCharlie’s Angelsthat I was creating some feminist manifesto. I was just making an action movie.”
“I would’ve liked to have madeMission: Impossible, but women aren’t directingMission: Impossible,” she continued. “I was able to direct an action movie, frankly, because it starred women and I’m a female director, and that is the confine right now in Hollywood.”
Merie Weismiller Wallace/Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection
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Banks added, “I wish that the movie had not been presented as just for girls, because I didn’t make it just for girls. There was a disconnect on the marketing side of it for me.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Banks explained the tricky situation of being one of “very few female directors in Hollywood” in a “male-dominated world.”
“That’s what I’m up against, but I can’t solve it and I don’t really want to analyze it. It’s not interesting to me,” she said. “It puts me, frankly, in a position where the studio head is going to read it inThe New York Timesand be like, ‘Wow, that Liz Banks has got a lot to say.’ I don’t need that added pressure. I truly feel that it’s dangerous to talk about these things now.”
“He was flummoxed at the idea that a woman would be able to lead the Rock on a CGI screen, I guess?” she said.
Back in November 2019, Banks addressedCharlie’s Angels' box office performance in atweet, joking, “Well, ifyou’re going to have a flop, make sure your name is on it at least 4x. I’m proud of #CharliesAngels and happy it’s in the world.”
source: people.com
