Hollywood actor Elizabeth Banks, a vocal Trump critic since his political rise, appeared on Bustle’s One Nightstand podcast and slammed white women who voted for President Trump over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Expressing exasperation, Banks said, “I don’t understand the 53 percent of white ladies that didn’t vote for Kamala. What were you thinking?” She then discussed Effie Trinket, the character she played in the hit franchise The Hunger Games. The series, which also starred Jennifer Lawrence, featured Banks’ Effie evolving into a rebellion ally after a moral shift.
On the podcast, Banks said: “Effie for me is one of the characters that has the greatest arc that I’ve ever played because obviously she props up this fascist regime that she benefits from, and it’s not until she really comes to care for and see how unfair it is when they want to pull Katniss and Peeta into the games again …”
She added: “I think in Catching Fire when she’s like, ‘I want to be part of this team,’ and you really see her struggling and then by the end she’s like a revolutionary … I wish more of us were becoming revolutionaries! Effie is the model, guys!”
Banks played Effie in the original four Hunger Games films released between 2012 and 2015: The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. Ellie Fanning takes over the role in the upcoming prequel, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.
Banks praised Fanning for the role, saying: “I think she’s perfect … I think she’ll play that wide-eyed idealism of being taken along by Snow …” She previously told Variety that Fanning was “perfect casting,” adding: “I’ve always said it. The fans loved it and wanted it, so I was really happy about it.”
Banks has consistently criticized Trump. While presenting at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she compared Effie to him, referencing Trump’s theatrical entrance at that year’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
She said: “Some of you know me from The Hunger Games, in which I play Effie Trinket—a cruel, out-of-touch reality TV star who wears insane wigs while delivering long-winded speeches to a violent dystopia.” She added: “So when I tuned into Cleveland last week, I was like, ‘Uh, hey, that’s my act!'”
Banks appeared on the podcast to promote her new Peacock series, The Miniature Wife, starring alongside Matthew Macfadyen. In the sci-fi romance drama, Banks’ character, Lindy Littlejohn, is accidentally shrunk to six inches by her husband, Macfadyen’s Les Littlejohn. The story explores how the couple reevaluates their relationship and power dynamics amid the bizarre mishap.