When Elizabeth Banks got the script for the revenge thriller Skincare, it hit home.
“The woman I play is aging, like me, in an industry that really values the new,” says the actress who plays aesthetician Hope Goldman. “She’s very old school and has something that has worked for so long, but she also has everything in her life devoted to this business. She’s built it by herself.”
Banks’ character is on the verge of kicking her career up a notch as she launches her skincare line. However, when another hot facialist sets up shop right across from her boutique, things start to unravel, and she becomes consumed by the notion someone is out to demolish her success. As things spiral out of control, Goldman remains hellbent on finding who is trying to destroy her life.
Along with Banks, the LA-set indie stars Luis Gerardo Méndez as rival Angel Vergara, Lewis Pullman, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Ella Balinska, and celebrated character actor John Billingsley. Skincare, directed and co-written by Austin Peters, lands exclusively in theaters on Friday, August 16, 2024.
“Austin described it as sunshine noir, which I loved. We thought about great LA Noir movies like Chinatown and LA Confidential and asked the question, ‘What does it look like to create a sense of the pressure cooker of Los Angeles?'” Banks enthuses. “I love that this whole film takes place in an industry where youth and beauty are so important. One of the things that I found so interesting about this character, who is very narcissistic anyway, is that she has no people. She has this assistant but no husband or kids; this business is her life and her identity.”
“I love the notion of what someone would do to protect that when it is being threatened. She perceives these threats all around her, so how hard will she fight to hold on to the business and who she is? That’s really what’s at stake here. She doesn’t want to let go very easily.”
A successful actor known for starring in The Hunger Games franchise, the Pitch Perfect movies, and Wet Hot American Summer, to name a few, Banks has also directed several films, including Charlie’s Angels and Cocaine Bear. Not only that, but the creative chameleon also owns and runs Brownstone Productions with her husband, Max Handelman, which has given audiences the Pitch Perfect movies, indie comedy Bottoms, and TV shows, including Shrill and the gameshow Press Your Luck, which she also hosts.
‘Skincare’ Is Based On A True Story And Tackles A Real-World Issue
While Banks enjoyed playing an entrepreneurial grafter in Skincare, which is inspired by a true story, Goldman’s destructive spiraling obsessiveness is a trait they don’t share. However, she understood it.
“She’s always making it worse, always making a wrong decision. I felt it was very relatable, this sense of losing relevance in the world that is going so fast right now,” she explains. “I feel like we’re all standing on sand. There’s no solid ground. I feel it in my own life. I watch my kids work on the computer and use AI, and I’m already behind. It’s also how we sell things, how the movie business is staying relevant, and what that looks like in the world right now. Who is using my voice? Am I losing control of who I am and what I’ve built? Will I ever be comfortable with it? Skincare is also about progress, aging, and learning how to let go. Does she still need this?”
“When you create a life, that’s only about one thing, and you have nothing else. What happens when that thing goes? That, to me, was the real vulnerability of this character. There’s nothing else for her. If Hope loses this business, her apartment, house, or her car, she doesn’t even have a cat or a dog; there’s literally nothing else she cares about. It’s a real cautionary tale in that regard.”
As well as leading the ensemble, Banks brought a number of the other cast members to the table because she was so in love with the movie. It also enabled her to pull off an onscreen reunion with her Slither co-star and real-life friend, Nathan Fillion.
“Yeah, I brought Nathan to the film,” she confirms. “I was able to bring in a lot of people. We had about $4 to make this movie, so I’m proud and impressed with what we’ve pulled off. I brought Nathan, Luis, and Ella in because they were all people I’ve worked with in the past that I thought were perfect for these roles.”
“Nathan and I are longtime friends; it’s the same with Luis and I, and Ella was an Angel in Charlie’s Angels, so that was one of the most fun parts about doing this. We were in LA, and I was able to work with my friends. I absolutely loved it. I think the scenes between Nathan and I are fire. I love him in this. I just thought he was perfectly cast.”
Banks has also had a long-running association with Skincare producer Jonathan Schwartz, who brought the project to the table along with co-producer Logan Lerman, best known for starring in such films as The Perks of Being A Wallflower and Fury, as well as TV shows Hunters and We Were the Lucky Ones.
“They came to me and said,’ We think you’re Hope Goldman. What do you think?’ I read the script, met with Austin, the director, saw the documentary he made, and was really moved by it. I love supporting young new voices in Hollywood,” she says. “I could also shoot this in my backyard, so it was an easy yes for me, especially once I was like, ‘What about these people to be in it?’ It was a great experience all around. Logan is so impressive. He’s a young person trying to make his mark in Hollywood, and as somebody who also produces and is an actor, I was impressed by him.”
Skincare, which is not available for streaming, uniquely showcases LA, opting not to lean into the stereotypical images of Hollywood, instead creating an intoxicating music video-infused juxtaposition of the clamor to sustain glamor in the grime of the city. It also shies away from stereotypical imagery and utilizes iconic but often underused locations such as Crossroads of the World, the complex where Banks’ beauty empire is based. In real life, the location, built in 1936, is credited as being America’s first outdoor shopping mall.
“I had been there, but it was years ago, so it was great to return,” the actress explains. “Here’s what was really interesting about it; I felt it was so thematically right for the film. They’re about to tear that place down and build a hotel complex, so part of the reason we were able to film there is because most of the suites now are empty. They’re preserving just the giant Crossroads of the World neon and the spinning globe, but basically, the rest of that complex is going.”
“Again, progress is coming, and it is going to erase everything that is there. Thematically for Hope, I felt like it was the perfect place for her to be in this movie, as the pressure builds for her to hold on tightly to something that is going to go away.”
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