Are you ready for some Real Talk with Elizabeth Banks? We hope so! Because with the actress who brings Effie Trinket to life on-screen safely ensconced in the studio for an in-depth, no-holds-barred question-and-answer session about the making of "The Hunger Games," it was only a matter of time before MTV News' Josh Horowitz asked the question we've all wondered about since that first glimpse of the pink-haired and powdered Effie in the film's trailer: How long did it take to put that Capitol Couture look together?
The good news: Our curiosity was more than sated. (The bad news: It was a lot more than sated, as you'll soon find out.) Elizabeth, who's much more open about her toilette than the prim and proper Effie would be, explained that determining her character's signature look was the real time-suck.
"It was a really long process to find it, initially," she said. "It was a couple days of hanging out in the trailer and playing around. But once we nailed it, it was just two hours a day."
Which means that Elizabeth got off easy, all things considered; after all, Wes Bentley required two hours of painstaking grooming per day just for his beard.
And the most difficult part of the Effie ensemble?
"The worst part about it was my nails," Elizabeth said. "I had these crazy, long, insane fake nails—bejeweled and...just insane. And once they were on, I literally couldn't do anything. I couldn't—[mimes poking a finger at an imaginary phone]—iPhone, Blackberry. I couldn't use the computer."
And if you're thinking that doesn't sound so bad, you'll want to reserve judgment until you've heard the last of the actress' complaints about her high-maintenance manicure. Because:
"I couldn't go to the bathroom. I literally couldn't zip or unzip, or do a button. I couldn't wipe. I couldn't do anything."
Okay, yes. That's...bad. That is very, very bad. (Bonus: rewind and watch Josh Horowitz's face when Elizabeth says the word, "wipe".)
But, she says, it's important that the audience understands just how much effort went in to bringing the literary trilogy to life: "I just want everyone to know how far we had to go to make 'The Hunger Games.'"
And now we know. Oh, man, do we know. And we can never un-know, ever.
Related:
+ 'Hunger Games' Cast Will Meet Fans At U.S. Malls
+ Elizabeth Banks Can't Wait To See 'Hunger Games' Arena Scenes
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