Kids over everything! Elizabeth Banks recently announced she will not returning to direct Pitch Perfect 3, and it’s because the gig interfered with her parenting responsibilities.
The 42-year-old will stay on as a producer after making her directorial debut with the second installment and producing both previous comedies about the a cappella group. She also appeared in both films as Gail, one of the commentators for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.
Banks discussed her decision to exit her director role at the annual PGA Produced By Conference in Culver City, California . “It was all timing,” she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We feel obligated to put out the best movie and anyone who has done sequels, this third one is hard to figure out what the story is. We want to give the audience what it wants but not making it repetitive.”
Banks explained that it took longer than she expected to develop the story line, and the delay pushed the release date back from July 2017 to December 2017. “We have been in development and it took longer than we thought, and I needed to shoot another movie in the summer. If we pushed into fall it bumped up against my parental responsibilities, which made me feel uncomfortable,” she said.
The Hunger Games actress and her husband Max Handelman are parents to Felix, 5, and Magnus, 3. The actress welcomed both children though gestational surrogate, and has been candid about her past struggles to get pregnant.
Back in 2013, she opened up about creating a work-life balance and spending as much time at home as possible to Marie Claire @Work. “First of all, I have a home office. I have two kids, and it means I get to put them down for their naps and be the person they wake up to,” she said. “When I’m actressing, which is my day job … I leave the house at 4:30 in the morning five days a week and I get home at 6, and hope to get two hours with them before they go to bed. So I’m slightly miserable about that.”
The 30 Rock actress has several upcoming projects, including starring in Power Rangers as villain Rita Repulsa and directing and producing another big-screen reboot of Charlie’s Angels.
