Elizabeth Banks is one of the most gorgeous and talented women in Hollywood, with the ability to pull off a wide range of genres. It is even more impressive, then, that it has been her participation in some of the raunchiest, funniest movies of the past decade that has made her a true star.
From her first sizable role in "Wet Hot American Summer" to her wacky nymph part in "40 Year Old Virgin" and then her leads in "Zack & Miri Make A Porno" and "Role Models," she's proven that she can have more than a few anatomically-inspired laughs. In a new interview with Esquire, she explains why the sophomoric is so often funny.
"Well, it's a fairly ridiculous act," she said, speaking about sex. "I mean, let's be honest: It's a very primal thing that you're doing and it involves, you know -- it's what they call bumping uglies, which sort of puts it in the right place. It's a horrifyingly embarrassing act. It's the most vulnerable you can be as a person, I think."
Sex may be embarrassing, but she's certainly not embarrassed about the way she portrays it.
"Yeah, can't wait for my kid to see it! Um, no," she joked about her kinky bath scene in "The 40 Year Old Virgin." "But I am never embarrassed by something that makes people laugh. I knew that girl. She's a good-time girl who lives in the Valley -- who works in the bookstore -- and goes to community college on the side, and is really into funky stuff in the bedroom. Her entire outlook on life made perfect sense to me."
Banks appears this weekend in "Our Idiot Brother," her fifth film with Paul Rudd, and is currently filming ensemble comedy, "What To Expect When You're Expecting." It's a different sort of sexual movie, but even then, she plays a character with skin on the brain, as the owner of a bookstore called "The Breast Choice." And, she will of course star as Effie Trinket in "The Hunger Games," due out in March.
For more from Banks, check out HuffPost's recent interview with the star, and to read more from her Esquire interview, click here.