Elizabeth Banks Interview For ‘Our Idiot Brother’

Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off the farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Emily and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother’s unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned’s family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him, Ned isn’t such an idiot after all. ‘Our Idiot Brother’ hits cinemas August 26th.

Family is obviously a big theme in this film…

Elizabeth Banks: Yeah, it’s ultimately a story about family and how you don’t get to choose your family, you’re sort of stuck with your family. And if you’re going to be stuck with your family you kind of need to make the most of it. You need to support each other, you need to have each others backs, you need to accept each others quirks, you need to know how to push everyone’s buttons, you need to know everyone’s skeletons in the closet (laughs), you need to protect each other. I feel this movie is for anyone who has a family, which is pretty much everybody.

Considering the cast alone, this film can’t have been one you mulled over to join?

Elizabeth Banks: This movie was such an easy yes. The cast is amazing, we’re all friends. This is my fifth movie with Paul Rudd. I just knew going into this process that we all had the same work ethic, we all had the same sensibility, we were all going to take care of each other. When you’re acting in a movie like this it’s really important that you can trust that everyone’s bringing their A-game every day. You know we’ll just elevate each other every day. Everyone had a great handle on their character, I knew we’d all be very different. I thought Jesse Peretz did such a great job casting this film. It’s really exciting to work with your friends everyday (laughs), life is too short to work with a bunch of a-holes or people you don’t trust or really like. This is a situation that everybody wants to be in, everybody wants to spend the day with people they like.

There’s a lot to Miranda, what are your thoughts on her?

Elizabeth Banks: I really thought there was a lot of comedy to be mined in Miranda because she’s somebody who really wants to control a situation that ultimately she fails at controlling (laughs), I always think that’s kind of funny. I think when there is someone who’s icy and cool, maybe a little bitchy, but really that’s just hiding her insecurity, her vulnerability, her loneliness, and her desire to be better respected at work. All those things people want out of life, everybody has different ways of dealing with it, her way of dealing with it is being really bossy (laughs)! I think she feels like the things she can partially control in her life is her relationship with her family. Miranda is the sister with the fancy job, the fancy apartment – the sort of ambitious sister. The one who is happily career orientated at this point in her life. Very ambitious.

I really enjoyed the family group scenes…

Elizabeth Banks: The great thing about the group scenes is that Jesse sets a really lovely tone, lets us sort of play with each other. There’s a lot of improv and just general playfulness on set. We were all very comfortable with each other, I felt like everyone had the attitude of it’s ok to fail at any moment – make fun of yourself, have a good time. That’s sort of the key to making comedy I think – not being afraid to look stupid in front of each other.