Elizabeth Banks Talks Stepping Into Her 'Hunger Games' Role

Posted August 9, 2011, 5:24 pm   •   by Amanda Hasaka   •   57 comments

Say hello to Effie Trinket!

Hunger Games doesn't hit theaters until March 2012 (with its sequel dropping in November 2013), but Elizabeth Banks is already talking about her role as the eccentric, pink haired, District 12 escort.

The 30 Rock actress spoke with Vulture about the role, what the transformation was like, and whether or not she read the books herself.

When asked about the look of her character, Banks said:

"All I can tell you is that Effie does have pink hair. When the hair and makeup was finished, we had all these people in the trailer and it was like everybody just got giddy all at once, like, “We did it!” and “This is Effie! It’s going to be awesome!” We were so happy."

As it turns out, EB had read the book long before it was in talks to become a film:

"I read the book a long time ago. I was a very early adopter. I’d actually just read a book called The Maze Runner, which is another great book with a similar theme, but it has a male protagonist … my husband and I are always looking for properties to produce. So we had an advance reader’s copy of The Maze Runner."

Click here to read more of Elizabeth's interview!

Also, click through the gallery above to find out more about who will star in the highly-anticipated film!