‘I think I nailed it’: Elizabeth Banks says she was told she can’t direct men

LOS ANGELES: Actor and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks has opened up about the misogyny she has faced as a woman filmmaker, revealing she was once told she “can’t direct men” in Hollywood, according to Deadline.

The four-time Emmy nominee, who has directed films like ‘Pitch Perfect 2’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’, and ‘Cocaine Bear’, shared her experience during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“I was literally told because I direct films that, ‘You can’t direct men. They won’t follow you’,” Banks said, reflecting on the industry bias she encountered. She went on to counter that claim with confidence, adding, “And then I directed Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill in ‘Goodfellas’, and I think I nailed it. Check the list off. It’s all good”, according to Deadline.

Elizabeth Banks: “I was literally told because I direct films that, ‘You can’t direct men. They won’t follow you.'”

“And then I directed Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill in ‘Goodfellas,’ and I think I nailed it. Check. It’s all good.”https://t.co/NmyTKIhSBn pic.twitter.com/LoVO9YuMFF

— Variety (@Variety) April 23, 2026

Banks also stressed the need for more representation in filmmaking. “Despite me knowing that I’m in a great club, it’s a really small club, and it needs more representation. We need more storytellers from different perspectives, angles. And we need more audiences to watch. … I’m having a lot of fun making sure that women have a real sense of agency in whatever they’re doing, whatever stories I’m telling”, she said.

The actress-director was promoting her upcoming Apple TV+ series ‘The Miniature Wife’, in which she stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen. The show follows a writer who is literally shrunk to six inches by her scientist husband, leading to an absurd yet symbolic exploration of power dynamics in relationships.

“It’s a very funny show, but what I really was drawn to was, we get to sort of talk about a big feeling, which is feeling diminished by a partner,” Banks explained. “Or in your professional life, in your romantic life, I think we all have that relatable experience of being made to feel small every once in a while. And in this case, it’s literal and physical, and we get to sort of look at that from an absurdist lens, but talk about some big issues that I think people understand,” according to Deadline. (ANI)