ELIZABETH BANKS keeps tabs on the Berkshires, including subscribing to Berkshire Magazine. (I must admit, it warmed my heart to hear her say that!) During an interview by Zoom, she talked about her upbringing in Pittsfield, her father’s 33-year career at GE, her deep community roots, her career, and the message behind the crazy Cocaine Bear movie.
What was it like growing up in the Berkshires? My father retired from GE after a 33-year career. He finished his career actually in Schenectady, New York, at the plant over there. But he worked at a couple different plants in Pittsfield when I was growing up. They had large contracts with the military in the ’80s. I remember going to family day at GE and riding around in a tank. Then, I remember when Dukakis was running for president, seeing him in the tank with the helmet. I remember thinking, Oh, yeah, I did that. That was me. I got to do that, too. Then the big cuts came and the pink slips. I didn't realize how many families were affected. It certainly affected my family for long periods of time. My dad was laid off and pink slipped, and then, because of the union, was able to go back to GE when they were rehiring. So, I grew up in a very middle class, working class, union family with deep roots in Pittsfield. I grew up on Brown Street; I lived on the same street as my grandparents, and various aunts, uncles, cousins have all gone through the two houses that my family previously owned on Brown Street. They’re not in the family anymore. I grew up going to Springside Park. That was our backyard. That was our playground. I went to Crane Elementary until it closed and then went to Morningside School, which was built next to the jail. So I tell people I went to school next to a jail, and they don't really believe that. But when the ball would go over the fence into the jail yard, it was like, well, I guess we're not getting that ball back.
Unless somebody's out there, throwing it back to you. We would literally watch the guys in jail play basketball while we were eating lunch. It was wild. And then I went to Reid, formally North Junior High, and I was the kid who walked over the river and through the woods, whether it was snowing or raining or whatever it was, that’s how we went to school. I never took the bus. I always lived just shy of the bus for school in Pittsfield. Now, as an adult who does a lot of walking, I realize how close everything was.
How was being raised in Pittsfield connect to the person you are today? Massachusetts is a really blue state and is also a working-class state. Pittsfield is a very grounded community. There's not the “haves” and “have nots.” There weren't as many people summering from New York City in Pittsfield. Maybe if you went to Great Barrington or something, there were those summer homes and wealthy people who came in from Boston or New York. But that's not how I grew up. I grew up in a community where everybody was sort of in it together. I really appreciate that. I grew up also going to the Girls and Boys Club, the YMCA, the Catholic Youth Center. Real epicenters of my childhood were community-based and they were faith-based. That really has carried me through life as a person who believes in those institutions and what they offer to families and to people who need assistance, who need the social safety net that those institutions offer. I am a public school kid through and through.
Do you keep track of what's going on here? I definitely have deep affection for the area, and I wish that there was more economic development there. I'm really interested in that and how to expand that development into the city of Pittsfield, especially considering the devastation of GE picking up and leaving. I think there are so many opportunities still. As I get older, I'm really interested in that. It’s such an incredible place for people to be, when you can take advantage of all that nature has to offer there, the cultural life that goes on there is so incredible, and connecting people to those things is really important and interesting. But people also need good jobs. I'm really aware that there's not enough good jobs there for people.
The cultural institutions have definitely stepped up and taken the place of GE. That's what the Berkshires is known for—Barrington Stage, Berkshire Theatre Group, Norman Rockwell Museum, MASS MoCA, Williamstown Theatre Festival—which I understand back in 2005, you performed there? I played Cherie in Bus Stop, and I loved it. It was a great experience. It was always a dream to go to Williamstown. I remember going to drama school and being super jealous of people who told me that they had already done the program there and thinking, gosh, to go back and do something in my own community would be so fun. My drama teacher from high school, Ralph Hammond, was the theater critic for the Berkshire Eagle. He got to come and see the show. And I thought that was just so incredible and fun for me. I really got to show off in that show, because I have a song-and-dance number, which is not my forté, but I got to show what kind of talent the Berkshires could home grow. And that was really fun for me .... Williams College, by the way, is one of the premiere learning institutions in America. My dad took us tailgating to their football games. I think they’re, like, a division three school or something. It’s still really fun to go up there and support the athletic programs at Williams. I encourage people to do that.
Are there any people here in the Berkshires that you’d like to call out who have impacted you? Any teachers? I just saw Ralph Hammond at my dad's 75th birthday party. He's friendly with our family still, and he taught all four Mitchell kids. I'm the oldest of four kids. We all went to Pittsfield High, and we all did drama in the theater program. So, Ralph Hammond taught all of us. I loved my Latin teacher, Janet Rajotte, who has passed away. And Jim Anderson, who was a teacher there and the father of one of my classmates, Sean Anderson. Jim passed away recently, which I was really sad to hear about. He was just a great influence on me. Sort of like a coach. He was our SAT prep teacher and was all about higher education and dreaming big, but also a very grounded human being and raised a beautiful family. I always want to shout out the boys who I went to high school with. I really think about them and think how well-raised they were, how respectful they were, how great it was to be a young woman in their company. A woman trying to be in this man's world and be a businesswoman like I am and have the ambition that I have, to have been supported as wonderfully as I was back in those days really helped me feel like I could do anything and I could be anybody. My high school peers were just a great group of guys. I had wonderful high school girlfriends, of course. I see how those peer groups really affect young women especially. I was really supported back then.
Have you thought about filming in the Berkshires? I would love it. It's all about infrastructure for bringing in talent and crew. I think the Berkshires has it. So much of what we do in Hollywood is about tax incentives. It’s a business; it’s about money. Boston is a great backdrop. I think the history of the city is incredible, the people are incredible. The accent is incredible. It's very specific. So many wonderful movies were made there. I'm thinking about everything Dennis Lehane does. I'm thinking about Clint Eastwood making films there, and The Departed, obviously, and the deep, rich history in Boston. I know everybody's obsessed with the story of Karen Read right now, for instance. A lot of great storytelling happens there. I think there's something to be done in Massachusetts, of course. I would love to work with the film commission more and find more things to do there.
Press Your Luck is so delightful, and you definitely look like you’re having so much fun. In one of the segments, a contestant said, “You are the epitome of girl power.” I also love that you tailor the prizes to the contestants? I love it. We make two or three of those episodes a day. We really have to churn them out. But our contestants, when they show up, that's going to be their big opportunity to be on television. They're going to go home and they're going to have a watch party with their friends and family and gather around the TV. They're not allowed to say what happened on the show until it airs. So friends and family have no idea if they won a million dollars, if they won a car, or what happened. I really love to honor that opportunity that is theirs. This is their big shot to be on TV. I love being really present for that moment for them, while we make a great TV show that they're the star of. Giving people life-changing prizes and money, what a joy! It's the greatest joy that I have in show business, and so I just cherish making that TV show.
DreamQuil, which you star in, is set in a future where AI and automation are deeply integrated into everyday lives. Given the current global conversation around AI, what drew you to this project, and how does it reflect your own thoughts on the roles that technology and AI play in our lives? It's one of the questions that the film grapples with and that I'm excited about, which is how much of our lives we've already turned over to technology? How addicting that technology is, even in insidious ways. We used to wake up to an alarm clock, and now everybody wakes up to their phone, and the first device you pick up every day is your phone, and then your phone's entire job, every algorithm out there, every company, every app on your phone, the job of those companies is to take your attention. It’s all about how long they can keep you on your phone. Where are we headed in terms of human connection? I think there is obviously a great balancing act right now that we're all reckoning with. I love that my kids can FaceTime my mom, their grandmother. During the pandemic, it was a lifesaver for so many people and to be connected to family and friends in that way, and to be able to bear witness to things that are happening on the other side of the world. It’s incredible and fascinating that people can take classes at Stanford if they want to over some of these apps. So, I don't want to denigrate how great this is for the world, but I also think we are paying a price. The cost of it is becoming more and more clear, and so much of the cost is in our mental health and is in our connectivity to each other and those real human experiences and getting out in nature. I am just an interested citizen and where this is all headed. If I can make art that reflects this big question, I think that's something that's interesting to do.
And then you have Cocaine Bear, which was a wild and unique story. I read that script during the pandemic, and I thought, this is the movie I want to see right now. I wanted to see something that was just really fun. I do try to make things with a purpose. When I read the real story, I thought, Oh, my God, what a raw deal for the bear. In real life, the bear died after consuming copious amounts of cocaine. I just thought, this is so much about how we are trying to control nature. We're having devastating climate change issues, and nobody thinks of Cocaine Bear as a climate change parable. And I don't really either, but I did see in it the beginnings of this: We think we can control nature, and nature is a beast that we will never win with, and it is being supercharged right now via climate change. As humans, we are always going to be the underdogs in that scenario. And I just loved putting a bunch of underdogs up against a bear that they had no idea was on cocaine. It's like, you can't win. It doesn't matter how many guns you bring to the fight. It doesn't matter how much you bring to this. Humanity is in trouble. We really have to start approaching this in a different way. What I found interesting about the cocaine bear story was that humans were at fault. They dropped the cocaine into the forest. If you do that, if you mess with nature in that way, if you supercharge it in that way, you can't win. And that's what we're doing right now. It was just a really fun movie to make. But if you see a little something in it, I hope people see that.
What strikes me about you is how multi- talented and multi-faceted you are. You're an actor and a director. The movies, Brownstone Productions, Archer Roose Wines, which I love, the WhoHaha website. These varied endeavors align with your values. Can you tell me what those values are, and what motivated you to create these various entities that connect to who you are? I really am about inclusivity. I'm about breaking down barriers, especially for women entrepreneurs. The amount of money that goes to women entrepreneurs is minuscule compared to men. Honestly, my main goals are in improving the livelihoods of women. I try to lead by example, and I also try to put my resources and time into inclusivity. There's a lot of work still to be done …. Progress is slow, but what is the quote? It bends towards justice, right? I think that there is a promise in America, which is the greatest country on Earth. I believe that, too. I'm a huge patriot. My father is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, and I think that Pittsfield in particular is a wonderfully patriotic town. I love our Fourth of July parade. I still fly a flag at all of my homes. I believe that America can be the best place for everybody. So, most of my work is about being as inclusive as possible and opening opportunities and doors for underrepresented voices. Through my art, I am often doing that, as well. So, I make a lot of things that are about women and girls. I want to give women and girls a real voice and a sense that they can do big things in life. I have conversations with people. I just had one with a driver who said to me, “Well, there's a lot of women in in politics now. You guys are pretty equal.” And I was, like, “Why do you think that? Name some female politicians.” And he's like, “Well, Hillary Clinton.” And I said, “Hillary Clinton doesn't run anything anymore. She never was elected president.” She is an incredible role model to me. But I was like, wow, it just takes a few to convince men that we somehow are 50 percent of the power structure, when, of course, the actual numbers don't support that at all. So I think there's a lot of work to be done, and that's the work that I'm trying to do.
What do you enjoy doing on your off time? I enjoy spending as much time as I can with my family and dog. My kids are in a few different sports, and I enjoy being able to be there to support them. Recently, I have also taken up Mahjong with some friends, so we have game nights whenever we can.
Do you involve your family in your businesses? My husband Max is my partner in Brownstone Productions. My kids don’t seem to have a lot of interest other than raiding the craft service table. However, we did have them as background actors one day on Cocaine Bear.
Is there anything you take from the Berkshires when you travel, or that you have at your home? Whenever I visit, I leave with a dozen apple cider donuts from Bartlett’s Orchard.
Are you most comfortable in front of the camera or behind? These are two very different skill sets. I like taking on the complexity of problem-solving and leadership required to run the set from behind the camera, but when I just get to act and take care of a character, it’s a lot easier!
You’re now 50. How does that feel? What does the next decade look like for you? I feel more in my power than ever before. Despite the changing landscape of my core business, I’m excited to be making content. And I’m expanding into other fun businesses, too.
— Anastasia Stanmeyer
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