Elle Magazine’s November issue has three covers, one with Zoe Saldana dancing about her bump (Bedhead’s covering that), one with Jennifer Garner and one with Tina Fey bringing the sass. The theme of this whole thing is “Women In Hollywood” because the ladies profiled in this issue are all going to be receiving awards at the Women In Hollywood event. There are also profiles of Elizabeth Banks, Brie Larson, Jessica Lange and more. Here are some excerpts from Fey, Larson and Banks’ interviews:
What makes Tina Fey so driven: “I’m not sure I know, but having been an obedient and nerdy kid, I’m very driven to receive praise. If I were a smarter person, I’d be driven to receive money. I’m a dope—all I want is, ‘That was real good. Looks like you guys worked real hard on that.’ It’s always parent-teacher conference day in my mind.”
What Tina Fey thinks of her successor in TV-writer stardom, Lena Dunham: “There’s a generational difference in our comedy. Her generation feels that to be nude and to be sexual on-screen is empowered, and we’re on the end of a generation that’s like, ‘You’re not gonna trick me into doing this!’ But they say, ‘We’re not being cute, we’re incorporating our genuine sexuality.’ Which is an improvement. It’s great.”
Elizabeth Banks on her career low: “There were a couple of auditions…one of them for a slasher film. I was going to be naked and get my neck slashed in a bathtub. I was like, I might be broke right now, but I’ll figure out another way to pay the rent.”
Elizabeth Banks on which actress has the best career in Hollywood? “I don’t compare my career to other women’s; I compare my career to men’s. Why would I compare my career to the women’s? They’re not making as much money. And they don’t get to work as much. So I compare myself to Paul Rudd. He’s gotten way more opportunities than I have.”
Brie Larson on if she wants to be a “movie star:” “I don’t really know what that word means. I want to be an actor. You’re either a personality or some weird character actor. I would prefer to stay anonymous—to make movies but not work on Sunday, to be able to sit at a café and have no one pay attention to me. That’s the dream, but I don’t think it really works that way.”
It never fails to piss me off that Lena Dunham is compared to Tina Fey. Why is that? Why are they compared? Because they’re both white women writer/actresses? Because let me tell you – Girls is NOTHING like 30 Rock. Nothing! Tina comes from a traditional comedy background and she spent years learning her comedic craft as a writer and performer and you can tell. Lena Dunham was told that she was a special snowflake all her life and that every moment in her life needed to be recorded for posterity and you can tell.
Oh, and Elizabeth Banks is everything!! God, I love her. She’s so smart and awesome. And Brie Larson is so pretentious.
Photos courtesy of Paola Kudacki/ELLE.
I love Elizabeth’s Single Ladies look.
I love how women’s achievement in Hollywood is continuously trivialized by lazy journalism. Comparing Lena to Tina is like comparing apples to oranges.
Yes Abbott. I thought of single ladies too and I love that picture. Now if this were Beyoncé say on the cover of TIME dressed like this, everyone will feel offended. They already did
Tina Fey might be more talented than Leah but they’re both over-rated.
Elizabeth Banks is great.
I have never heard of Brie Larson so she can go sit at the cafe by my house & be anonymous all she wants.
I really liked Brie in the only thing I’ve ever seen her in. She played the daughter in United States of Tara. I really wish that show was renewed. It only got one season and stared toni Colette and John Corbett. It was so good. Now I’m sad lol.
United States of Tara had 3 seasons. Brie Larson was pretty good in that. She was also in Short Term 12, which was a great movie.
That’s the best cover of Tina i’ve ever seen WERQ. Ugh Lena WISHES she was anything like Tina, they need to stop with those comparisons they are nothing alike.
I used to really like Brie but she became pretentious and a tiny bit full of herself real quick lately.
I see the similarities between Tina and Lena. They both wrote and played the lead in a hit comedy show. It was a different type of comedy, but the similarties are there.
I don’t get such huge hate for Lena. Granted, I don’t watch the show, but I like her from interviews.
You didn’t read Kaiser’s assessment of both, which is so true it’s amazing no one’s written it before:
“Because let me tell you – Girls is NOTHING like 30 Rock. Nothing! Tina comes from a traditional comedy background and she spent years learning her comedic craft as a writer and performer and you can tell. Lena Dunham was told that she was a special snowflake all her life and that every moment in her life needed to be recorded for posterity and you can tell. ”
That’s it in a nutshell. Another annoying thing about Dunham: she’s always intimating that before she died in 2012, writer and director Nora Ephron blessed her as her successor. Anyone with half a brain can see that FEY is Ephron’s true successor.
Exactly, gefeylich! Lena’s head is lodged firmly up her “special snowflake” ass. Tina is being VERY generous in her assessment of Lena and her “talent.”
Chiming in with my usual “love, love Elizabeth Banks”. That’s all.
I love Tina Fey!! She’s from my hometown which makes me all the more biased! I know she spent years learning her craft, but many people in the Philly region (mainly the blue collar parts) share her sense of humor.
I have no idea who Brie Larson is and no desire to google to find out, but TL and EB are my boos. I love those ladies, and I thought TL’s Lena answer, and your analysis of the Lena/TL comparison, Kaiser, were spot on. TL makes nerdy so sexy.
“I don’t compare my career to other women’s; I compare my career to men’s. Why would I compare my career to the women’s? They’re not making as much money. And they don’t get to work as much. So I compare myself to Paul Rudd. He’s gotten way more opportunities than I have.”
Thank you, Elizabeth Banks!
I was just going to say this!
THIS is the meaning behind feminism to me, in a nutshell!
Stop comparing and pitting women against each other and start comparing the differences and the inconsistencies between men and womens roles.
I loved that too but I laugh that she used Paul Rudd. I could watch Paul Rudd do anything! Mind you I love Elizabeth Banks like that too. And she’s right of course Paul Rudd gets to do more but he’s also buddies with whatshisface… he also has a hand in Girls…… tip of tongue….. so anyway it is who you know, a little incestuous, hey, i’m making a movie – you want in?
Mostly I just love how much Elizabeth Banks gets it. No muss, no fuss, just calls it.
Judd Apatow- getting in with his crew gets you a lot of work.
I too love this quote, and she’s dead on. Actresses should be comparing their careers to actors- they should be pointing out the difference in pay, opportunities and frequency of work. Elizabeth Banks is a comedic actress who also does good dramatic work- she’s equivalent to Paul Rudd in a lot of ways, so she should have a similar career (also, Elizabeth Banks for the all female Ghostbusters reboot? I think she’d be great!)
Tangentially related, I read an article not too long ago that said that award shows should do away with separate Actor/Actress categories and just nominate 10 leads and 10 supporting. Which sounds great, but let’s get real- most films have a male lead, which means that most of the “best” performances will be given by male actors, since they have far more substantive roles than actresses have. It seems almost every year that there could easily be 10 or more nominated lead actors, and a few years it feels like they struggle to find 5 lead actress performances to nominate.
Tina is the bomb. Mean girls….who would have thunk it, to cast Lindsay in that role, genius…in fact the only good role she ever had. If only Tina was the real Sarah Palin, we’d have a great president as opposed to the Real Bad Housewives of Wasilla, Alaska. Thanks for the laughs Tina Feyfabulous.
Until I started reading Celebitchy, I never knew magazines had more than one cover. How do they decide which one to sell where, or is it random. Why do they do that, if anybody knows?
Pretty picture of Tina Fey.
With the mega beige and the acid wash denim the eighties are being re-cycled – just wish the song ‘Livin on a prayer’ would be retired – it was bad the first time around his voice is worse than Taylor Swifts.
Is Brie the one who had a interview with Shailene where she said she goes to the grocery store and aksk people to reject her or somkething like that?
Yup- she goes to the Farmer’s Market and asks for things she knows they don’t have so that they tell her “No” and she gets some rejection in her life.
I think I understand what she was trying to say (something along the lines that she gets so coddled as an actress that she doesn’t want to lose touch with reality and so she seeks out ways to bring back the normal rejection/frustration into her life so that she doesn’t start to believe that she’s entitled to whatever she wants whenever she wants it), but it didn’t translate well at all.
I <3 Tina Fey. She's my girl crush. I'm totally digging on Elizabeth Banks, too. I have no idea who this Brie girl is.
And right on about not comparing Tina to Lena. Completely different ballpark.
Kaiser, I think you absolutely nailed it on the big differences between Tina and Lena.
I love Tina. I relate to her (and to Liz Lemon way more than I care to admit) , I think she’s brilliant, and I truly admire the career and life she has built for herself.
But damn, Elizabeth Banks is my hero. Hollywood needs more of her.
I don’t get the Tina Fey/Lena Dunham comparison either. I had no idea they were being compared but it is WRONG. I tried watching Girls and that scene where she tells her parents that she is the voice of her generation felt like it was coming straight from Lena and that is what she really feels. Her generation should demand a recount.
Tina is just amazing and it is lame that Lena is always compared to her. Truly apples to oranges. As for Elizabeth Banks, I’ve never been crazy about her as an actress but as a person I’m more impressed each time I see something she’s said.
“Tina comes from a traditional comedy background and she spent years learning her comedic craft as a writer and performer and you can tell. Lena Dunham was told that she was a special snowflake all her life and that every moment in her life needed to be recorded for posterity and you can tell.”
THIS. I even like Lena and enjoy “Girls.” It’s a generational thing though. Often (not always- before anyone jumps down my throat) but the folks in Tina’s generation were taught that you had to work hard and be the best to get praise and a trophy. In Lena’s (and self admittedly my) generation, *everyone* gets a trophy. We all got the “You’re SPECIAL!” stickers. In the end, a lot-maybe even most- kids grow out of that mentality and wake up to the real world, Lena, however, is still a special snowflake.
So glad I’m part of Tina’s generation and not Lena’s. I’m not sure when that cutoff is. Maybe people born by the early 80’s? I was born late 70’s and I totally see myself in everytHing TF writes.
I love Tina. She’s my girl crush. That is all.
AAARGH! I’m with you, Kaiser. Comparing Lena Dunham with Tina Fey is infuriating! It’s like comparing Tori Spelling with Meryl Streep! I don’t even consider Girls to be a comedy, or LD to be a comedic writer or actress. The only reason she has a show is family relations. Every girl on that show is the daughter of someone big in the entertainment industry.
Look @ Tina Fey Cover………Hello Cindy Crawford!!!!!
Is Brie Larson the pr0n star ole Tiger Blood is dating??
Nope.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0488953/
I love Tina Fey and Lena. Both in charge of their TV careers which is where the comoarison comes in. And Paul Rudd is way funnier than Elizabeth Banks.
Kaiser I love your commentary on Tina vs Lena. I’m ready for that special snowflake to melt into oblivion.
Me too. I started watching Girls the other day and got to season 3 before I had to delete every single episode in a rage. Are they what pass for young adults these days? A bunch of shallow, self obsessed buttholes with no redeeming qualities at all. Once every episode started focusing more and more on Hannah I had to turn off. Her extreme self absorption wasn’t funny or cute, it demonstrated what a lifetime of being told how special you are can turn a person in to. I wouldn’t want someone like that anywhere near me.
Elizabeth Banks and Tina Fey = killing it on all levels. Their careers, their personal lives, their photos in the spread, their comments in the article.
Your take on Lena Dunham? PERFECT!! You articulated exactly my thoughts about her. Good for her and all she’s accomplished, but don’t vilify me if I don’t drink the Lena-Dunham-is-the-2nd-Coming Kool-Aid.