Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Actress ELIZABETH BANKS stars in the movie SKINCARE, directed by Austin Peters. In this interview, Elizabeth talks about Hope Goldman, her character in the film. Banks also talks about working with Austin and the rest of the cast. In SKINCARE, famed aesthetician Hope Goldman (Elizabeth Banks) is about to take her career to the next level by launching her very own skincare line, but her personal and work lives are challenged when rival facialist Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) opens a new skincare boutique directly across from her store. She starts to suspect that someone is trying to sabotage her reputation and business, and together with her new friend Jordan (Lewis Pullman) she embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of who is trying to destroy her life. The film also stars Lewis Pullman, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Michaela Jaé (MJ) Rodriguez and Nathan Fillion. SKINCARE, in theatres on August 16th.
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00:00What went through your mind the first time you read the script?
00:04Oh, gosh. Well, I would say,
00:08as a middle-aged actress in Hollywood,
00:10I felt there was a lot to connect to in Hope Goldman,
00:15who is a middle-aged esthetician
00:18trying to stay relevant in her industry
00:21that is obsessed with youth and beauty
00:24and what's new and fresh.
00:26And so I think that was probably the first thing that went through my mind.
00:30I also loved just the whole milieu of Los Angeles
00:35and this world of beauty
00:37and how cutthroat it did ultimately seem to be.
00:41And, you know, I mean, I live there,
00:43like, I'm constantly being bombarded with, like,
00:45you got to go to this person or you got to try this new thing
00:48or you got to do this.
00:49And so I just, I related to a lot of those things.
00:54She reminded me of an esthetician that I had back in the day
00:58on Third Street in West Hollywood,
01:01who's very old school and who, you know,
01:04sold product out of the front of her business.
01:08And then I also felt there was a great existential crisis in this movie
01:14of somebody trying to hold on to the way they do business,
01:20the way they work,
01:21at a time when technology is, like, steamrolling over them.
01:26You know, they just are, they don't even understand.
01:28I mean, at the beginning of this movie,
01:30this character thinks she's going to sell products out of her storefront
01:35at a moment when all of marketing and all of sales were moving online.
01:40And you had to be online.
01:42You know, the young character tells her in the movie,
01:45like, you are the product.
01:47Like, you have to, the product represents you,
01:50you represent the product, like, you are it,
01:52like, get yourself out there.
01:53And the pressure to perform on that level,
01:57I don't, literally did not exist until that moment in time,
02:02and has only become greater as time has progressed.
02:07And so all of that felt very relatable to me,
02:11and all of that gave me a reason to say yes to the film.
02:15Would you describe Hope and Jordan relationship?
02:19And living in Los Angeles, how many Jordans are out there?
02:25There are a lot of Jordans out there.
02:27So Jordan is sort of a, I mean, at the end of the day,
02:31he might sort of be a bit of a lothario.
02:34He's definitely a bit of a con man.
02:36I do find that there are so many, you meet a lot of people in LA,
02:40especially young people who show up,
02:42and their jobs are just to just sort of be helpful, you know?
02:48So like, I know a lot of people that are like,
02:50well, I'll just drive around this really wealthy person,
02:54because they might introduce me to the person that introduces me
02:57to the thing that is my life, you know?
02:59And so, and I also, I know, I don't want to speak for Lewis
03:03or how he developed his character,
03:06but we did together look at some of these online personalities
03:11that like make their business just giving like, you know,
03:14like working out and looking hot and being like,
03:16here's what you got to do, and you got to level up your life,
03:19and you got to, you know, and just like, like get in the club,
03:23you know, it was sort of like inspired by like early,
03:26you know, Joe Rogan almost, you know?
03:28And I do feel like that is,
03:32everybody in this is primed to be taken advantage of
03:36because of their vulnerabilities, including Hope and including him.
03:39And he's somebody who understands how to prey upon people,
03:43and she's not too naive to realize she's being preyed upon.
03:46And I think it creates a really interesting dynamic
03:48between the two of them.
03:51They both need something from each other,
03:54but she doesn't understand what he's taking from her
03:58in payment, if you will.
04:01And what have you learned from Hope, from your character?
04:06I think by the end of this film, one of the things I'm rooting for
04:09is that this is a woman who thinks she's controlling a situation,
04:12and she clearly loses all control of the situation.
04:17But then by the end,
04:19realizes that there's a fine line between fame and infamy,
04:23and she doesn't care because she,
04:25her goal was to get her name out there,
04:28to sell herself, to be known, to be famous.
04:32And at the end, she's infamous,
04:34and that is exactly what she wanted.
04:36So for me, I'm rooting for her at the end
04:38because she's turned what has happened to her,
04:41which is horrible,
04:44into something positive for her.
04:46And that is the kind of bitch I can root for.
04:50You are also an executive producer in the film.
04:53As a producer,
04:55how important and rewarding is it for you
04:58to be able to tell the stories you want to tell?
05:02Well, I think it's something that I take pride in.
05:05And one of the things I was able to do
05:07was really help bring in a great cast.
05:09You know, I've worked with Luis and Ella,
05:13and I've worked with Nathan and Fillion,
05:15and, you know, being able to bring in all of that cast
05:19was so fun for me.
05:21And then really to look at the edit of the film
05:24and talk about, with Austin, who's a first-time filmmaker,
05:27I think, you know, that was a real honor
05:29to just sort of be by his side
05:31as he figured out how he was going to tell the story.
05:33He did an amazing job,
05:35and I'm so proud of what he created.
05:38And I really think that from script to screen,
05:42the movie, it really...
05:45The promise in the script is fulfilled on screen.
05:48That doesn't always happen, but Austin was able to do it.
05:50And that's really what it's about for me,
05:53just feeling like I'm there being as a support system.
05:56You know, I've been doing this a really long time,
05:58so to support somebody
06:00who's making their first-time feature narrative directorial debut,
06:05I just wanted to be a great resource to him.
06:09Thank you so much. Great film.
06:10Thank you, Elizabeth.
06:14Bye.
06:14Adios.