Jan 4 2010 09:31 AM ET

'30 Rock' scoop: Elizabeth Banks channels Sean Hannity, romances Alec Baldwin

Tags: , News

Even some of Hollywood’s most in-demand actresses have to occasionally beg for work. Take Elizabeth Banks. The star of 40-year-old Virgin, W., and Zack and Miri Make a Porno tells me that her upcoming 30 Rock gig resulted from her reaching out to the Emmy-winning comedy and not the other way around. “I definitely put feelers out, like, ‘I would love to be on your show,’” she confesses. “And they did it. They made it happen! I’m a huge fan, so this is a dream come true.”

Banks, who is on board for at least four episodes (the first of which airs in February), plays a right-leaning financial guru who falls for fellow conservative Jack (Alec Baldwin) after he appears as a guest on her CNBC talk show. “She’s basically Sean Hannity in a skirt,” she explains. “What’s great about her relationship with Jack is they’re equals. She’s not some [pretty] young thing that he has a fling with. She really challenges him.”

Despite a string of sitcom appearances — her Rock role follows stints on Modern Family and Scrubs — Banks says she’s “having too much fun making movies” to commit to a TV show full-time. To wit, she just wrapped the Paul Haggis thriller The Next Three Days (she plays Russell Crowe’s incarcerated wife). “The [TV jobs] are a really fun thing to do between movie gigs,” she says. “On Monday I’m hanging out of a car [filming Three Days], and on Tuesday I’m working with two national treasures, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin — not to mention Tracy Morgan.”

Comments (12 total) Add your comment
  • Lara

    Oooh, smilestimes.

    Loved her on Modern Family.

  • Ambient Lite

    He seems to attract political figures…though I doubt this one can measure up to his wild affair with Condoleeza.

    • cheryl

      Not to mention the subsequent third party: Putin!

  • cheryl

    Saw Role Models today and she was pretty good. Liked her in Modern Family too (at least her character wasn’t as extraneous as Edward Norton’s one).

  • John

    Or she is Ann Coulter if Ann Coulter was actually as hot as she THINKS she is!

    • Cheery

      THIS. Ann Coulter is a horse-faced pre-op tranny. She should be so lucky to look like Elizabeth Banks.

  • Ambient Lite

    Indeed, but we can de-bunk that one, as she is smiling in the pic above…Ann Coulter is unable to exhibit any sort of joy or happiness (because she hates herself).

  • Oprah’s Minge

    I love how they don’t even mention Ann Coulter who would be the obvious comparison, not Beck. Shows how irrelevant Coulter is.

  • Sandy

    Actually, neither Hannity, nor Beck, nor Coulter would be a good comparison, because none of them are right-leaning “financial gurus,” they are right-leaning political commentators.

  • Clarknt67

    I was thining Maria “Money Honey” Bartiromo was the more obvious comparison. But then, maybe not many people know who she is.

    • orville

      She would actually be a great guest shot for the show.

  • freckles

    i loved her in zack and miri…in the opening scene of that movie…her laugh.. was well done. looking forward to seeing her on 30 rock!

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