From comedy to drama to biopics and every genre in between, Elizabeth Banks always understands the assignment.
The actress had plenty to play with in IFC Films‘ Skincare, which premieres Friday in theaters. It’s a true crime-inspired character study about a woman’s struggle to stay relevant in Hollywood and the dangerous lengths she’ll go to defend what she’s built — a role to which Banks “felt very connected.”
“I related to this sense of vulnerability, of feeling like the technology is going so fast that you can’t keep up with it, that there’s always gonna be a new fresh, useful way of doing things,” Banks tells Deadline. “And this woman just doesn’t know how to do it. And I feel like as someone who’s middle-aged and works in Hollywood, I already feel like I don’t know what the next big thing is gonna be, what the AI thing is gonna be or what has been now introduced into all of our lexicon. I think everyone is worried about staying relevant.”
For director Austin Peters, who makes his feature debut with the “sunshine noir,” casting Banks in the leading role of Hope Goldman was “when it became a real movie.” As a self-proclaimed “Elizabeth Banks fan,” he explains that she was the final puzzle piece in bringing the story to life on the big screen.
“She said to me early on, ‘It is fun for an audience to watch someone lose their mind,’” recalled Peters. “And those are the kind of movies that I like and have influenced this film, where there’s a central character and you’re watching them spiral out and go totally crazy. And she was game to do that. She really brought it, and it wouldn’t have been possible with anyone else.”
Elizabeth Banks as Hope Goldman in Skincare. (Courtesy of IFC Films)
On the brink of a major career movie, celebrity aesthetician Hope Goldman (Banks) finds that competing skincare pro Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) has moved into the storefront next to hers in 2013 Los Angeles. Meanwhile, someone begins stalking and harassing Hope, putting her life and business in jeopardy. As the tension builds, she’s pushed to take action.
Banks has been known to take on some stranger-than-fiction true stories, coming off her directorial outing with last year’s Cocaine Bear. “As an artist, I’ve really always looked for the true-life basis of something,” she says. “I really like being grounded by something.”
Skincare also has real-life roots, loosely inspired by celebrity facialist Dawn DaLuise, who went to jail but was acquitted in a murder-for-hire plot against competitor Gabriel Suarez. She believed Suarez was anonymously harassing her, but it turned out to her friends Edward Feinstein and Nicholas Prugo.
Elizabeth Banks as Hope Goldman and Lewis Pullman as Jordan in Skincare (IFC Films)
For fans of L.A.-based true crime, Skincare could effectively serve as a sequel to The Bling Ring, as Prugo also inspired the character played by Israel Broussard in Sofia Coppola‘s 2013 movie (as well as Austin Butler‘s character in the 2011 Lifetime version). Lewis Pullman serves a masterfully unhinged performance as the Prugo surrogate in Skincare.
But Peters’ intention was to use the headlines as a jumping-off point. “Our film is definitely a work of fiction,” he says. “We took this idea that had maybe been burned in our consciousness from these headlines and tried to kind of run with it and create a new story with new characters. But that still felt real and felt true to Los Angeles and life in 2013.”
Banks tells Deadline about Skincare‘s true-crime inspiration, as well as what she related to in her role.
DEADLINE: What was it like getting to make a fun stylized noir thriller like this while infusing your style of dark comedy but also playing a very scared woman?
ELIZABETH BANKS: I really related to Hope Goldman’s vulnerability in this, as you say. And I find, honestly, that narcissism and vulnerability can be really funny. She takes everything so seriously. She’s sort of a ridiculous human being, but she’s also very lonely. When you think about who she’s surrounded by — she has an assistant in MJ Rodriguez, who she pays — and other than that, she doesn’t even have a cat. She’s got no husband, no family, no children. The business is her life. So I have always found that characters who are singularly focused like that just become sort of ridiculous by their very nature because they’re so devoted to what they’ve achieved. And then of course, there’s all this outside pressure on this woman. And I thought the pressure-cooker noir elements that were infused even in the script stage, it was very clear: The stress on her was gonna build and build and build and have these sort of violent consequences. I love that about it. I also love the way she’s presented as someone who surprises you with what moves she makes, and I think you do believe when you meet all of these characters that they might be capable of things you’re not expecting. So I felt that way too, like, “Let’s make her into somebody who will really do anything to get what she needs and what she wants and hold on to her little sense of power that she has in the world.”
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Marine and Elizabeth Banks as Hope Goldman in Skincare. (IFC Films)
DEADLINE: Tell me about your personal relationship with social media and image as a public figure and how that helped you get into this mindset and character.
BANKS: The mindset I was reflecting on when we were making this was less about image online, which is truly important and a selling tool and a marketing tool. And anybody who’s selling anything I think now realizes all of that is done online. It’s so nontraditional from what it was that now it’s the new traditional. That and this film takes place in that moment in time when it was transferring. And so this woman is very behind, she doesn’t even have an Instagram account when the film opens. She still thinks you sell your product out the store window, when that doesn’t happen at all anymore — everything’s online. And so I related to this sense of vulnerability, of feeling like the technology is going so fast that you can’t keep up with it, that there’s always gonna be a new fresh, useful way of doing things. And this woman just doesn’t know how to do it. And I feel like as someone who’s middle-aged and works in Hollywood, I already feel like I don’t know what the next big thing is gonna be, what the AI thing is gonna be, or that has been now introduced into all of our lexicon. I think everyone is worried about staying relevant. And so it was this idea of relevancy in the world as you age and as progress steamrolls over you that we all have to face because it’s going to happen, and the youth are coming. Their time is coming, and we do have to give it up at some point. What does that look like? I mean, unless you’re Celine Dion and you’re on the Eiffel Tower and it’s the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, then you are forever relevant. But that probably won’t happen to 99% of us.
DEADLINE: Also, I love that this movie is technically a sequel to The Bling Ring.
BANKS: I learned that after the fact. … I knew it was sort of ripped from the headlines. I didn’t know about the Bling Ring connection, but I do now. But yeah, that guy apparently was one of the guys involved. But that time period, to me, just being taken advantage of by a young person is really interesting to me. And he kind of says it right to her, “You’re pathetic and old basically; you needed my help and you asked for this.” It was so wild to me, and so hurtful and vulnerable and true.
DEADLINE: You’ve also done quite a few stranger-than-fiction true stories. Is there something about those that are more interesting?
BANKS: As an artist, I’ve really always looked for the true-life basis of something. I don’t do a lot of fantasy work. You know what I mean? If you look at my résumé, I’m not, like, floating in outer space very often on a land that we can only imagine. I really like being grounded by something. Pitch Perfect, when you think about it, we always looked for, what was the true story? In real life, the basis of that was a book based on articles that were written by Mickey Rapkin, who did a cappella at Cornell and knew that there had never been an all-female group that won the ICCA. That was true. So I was like, “What are the touchpoints in reality?” And let me just say this, real life is always stranger than fiction. You can’t write this stuff. It’s like, every story is being told already. Right now, we’re living in a political reality, for instance, that sounds like a plot from Scandal or House of Cards. And if you wrote this, people will be like, “Come on, Hollywood. You crazy, girl!” And this is happening, so I love the ripped-from-the-headlines stuff because as an actor, it gives me touch points in reality that I feel like the audience also has to relate to because we do go like, “Yeah, that can happen.” I prefer it. I wouldn’t say I prefer — I think you know, the fantasy and imaginative stuff is really interesting. I love a good House of the Dragon. So I’m not knocking it. Just, for me, I’ve definitely realized over time, I’m drawn to things — like Cocaine Bear being another great example — things that just have this real basis and a real-life story. So I just think it’s fun for the audience to see how we change it.
Luis Gerardo Méndez as Angel Vergara in Skincare. (IFC Films)
DEADLINE: What was it like working with Luis Gerardo Méndez and Ella Balinska again after Charlie’s Angels?
BANKS: Well, one of the really fun things about this and being attached so early on in the process was I was given the opportunity to bring in friends to play with. And so Ella, of course, is perfectly cast. Luis is a real angel. And then Nathan Fillion, who I made Slither with nearly 20 years ago, probably, we’ve been friends for so long. When you get to work with people who are gonna bring it, that you have instant chemistry with, who you just can trust on the set every day, I love that part of the process. So I love being able to work with some of my fellow friends and actors who are phenomenal in the movie. And then Lewis Pullman blew my mind. He was incredible. And by the way, MJ Rodriguez is amazing. Wendie Malick is amazing. I’m a huge fan of Wendie Malick’s. It was so fun to get to work with her.
DEADLINE: As an actress who has now also been in the director’s chair a few times, how do you choose the projects that you want to appear in versus the projects that you want to helm?
BANKS: Well, helming is a huge commitment, meaning I have to be so in love with the story, the whole idea, that I’m gonna commit at least two years of my life to it. And by the way, all my family has to commit to it. I mean, it’s such a huge time commitment, emotional commitment, psychological commitment. It takes a big part of my life. So telling those stories, directing, I need a lot of reasons to do it. When I’m choosing roles to play, I gotta just love the character. I gotta love the opportunity to sort of explore something. I felt very connected to Hope Goldman. I went to a facialist named Maddie on 3rd Street in L.A. who had a little studio that’s very much similar to Hope’s studio. And I remember when the Kate Somerville spa experience went in on Melrose Place and everyone was going there instead. … I remember those moments, and I remember when it was like — “What’s this new thing, Botox?” Like, you gotta have a laser facial. I related to this sense of the beauty industry is always looking for the next new thing and as you just naturally age, is there a way to do it gracefully without feeling like you just can stay relevant? I mean, I’m going through that right now. So for me, it’s finding a connection point with characters. That’s how I choose the roles that I play, and with directing, the list is a lot longer.
