Elizabeth Banks Plays 1930s Vamp for Allure Cover Shoot
Her Hunger Games alter ego Effie Trinket may have a knack for rocking candy-colored wigs and McQueen designs, but for our money it doesn't get much better than Elizabeth Banks' '70s-style sequined gold Donna Karan New York gown, sunkissed skin, and pulled-back blonde locks for the June cover of Allure.
Inside, however, the blonde actress and photographer Norman Jean Roy rewind a few decades for a more extravagant fashion spread inspired by a 1930s vamp. Channeling Art Deco style via a retro wavy up-do, scarlet lips, and decadent designs from Burberry Prorsum and Gucci, Banks is a far cry from her role as a disheveled mommy expert in the new film What to Expect When You're Expecting.
Though her character in the film is pregnant, Banks is refreshingly open about her own struggles with fertility and her decision to use a surrogate to deliver son Felix last year.
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"It's essentially a test-tube baby—it's just that the test tube is another woman," she says of the experience. "That you can grow a baby outside of yourself! It's just amazing!"
Playing the pregnant Avery Jessup on 30 Rock, however, proved an interesting challenge given her real-life situation.
"I had already mourned the loss of my fertility for myself, so I was past it," says Banks of wearing a prosthetic baby bump. "The only time it really affected me was when Alec Baldwin looked me straight in the eye and asked me, 'Are you pregnant right now?' And I blanched totally. Because of course, technically, no I wasn’t. But then, technically, yes, in a way I was! And it was very weird.
"I thought Alec was reading my mind or something. Well we weren’t telling anyone then, so I said 'No,' I thought, is that a lie? Because it wasn’t a lie, and yet it was a lie!"
Photo courtesy of Allure
Banks hits the dance floor in a sequined Donna Karan New York gown.
The 38-year-old also tells the magazine about committing herself fully to comedic roles—"if you're not really going for it, an audience can tell"—and how she was initially afraid to embark on an acting career because she was worried that her figure wouldn't cut it.
"I thought I had chicken legs, and I thought, Oh, my boobies are too small," she says. "It was the era of Cindy Crawford and The Body—and I didn't have that."
These days, a trainer helps her maintain her enviable figure—but don't ask her how much she weighs.
"It's not good to put in a magazine what I weigh because it's too little," she admits. "People freak out when they hear what I weigh. They think, Oh, you're too skinny. But I ate a cupcake last night—and I eat broccoli. I work out with a trainer; she kicks my ass and my husband's ass two or three days a week."
The folks in District 12 would be impressed!
For more Elizabeth Banks, visit Allure.com and pick up the June issue, on sale May 22.
