Elizabeth Banks to direct ‘Pitch Perfect’ sequel

Pitch Perfect, the critically acclaimed 2012 spiritual successor to “Mean Girls,” may now get a sequel of its very own. Elizabeth Banks, who starred in the first film as the sassy, sarcastic narrator of the national A Capella competition, is making her directorial debut with this upcoming film. As an additional surprise, the rumor abounds that Banks may also star in the film, reclaiming her role as the commentator of the competition once more.

The Pittsfield, Massachusetts native has directed three smaller films prior to this. According to Banks’s IMDB page, she has directed a segment of the 2013 short film collection “Movie 43” titled “Middleschool Date.” She also directed the 2011 “Just a Little Heart Attack” and the 2010 “AIDS: We Did It!” Until now, however, Banks has not directed any major film or motion picture, and certainly not one with the sort of attention Pitch Perfect 2 is receiving.

Banks’s acting career is a bit more robust, however. Banks well known for her role as “Effie Trinket,” the District 12 escort from the hit Hunger Games. She starred in this role in both the first and second film. Recently she voiced Wyldstyle in The Lego Movie, and Meghan Miles in Walk of Shame. In the upcoming 2014 film, Love & Mercy, she plays the role of Melinda Ledbetter, and she will play Detective Nancy Porter in the much awaited Every Secret Thing. Banks’s first role was as Elisabeth Casey in the 1998 indie film called Surrender Dorothy, and her first Hollywood film was The 40 Year Old Virgin. While she continued to work with smaller known films, Banks has also starred in several major hits over the past decade, which include Zack and Miri Make a Porno and What to Expect When You’re Expecting. She has also starred on several television episodes of Scrubs and 30 Rock.

The upcoming Pitch Perfect sequel is being written by Kay Cannon, and is hoped to follow in the footsteps of the first film, a box office hit which made over $115 million worldwide. The studio has confirmed that both Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson will maintain their lead roles, but it is unclear so far if Banks will return in anything other than a directorial capacity. It is hoped that her previous experience with comedic shorts has prepared her for the funny and serious tone that the Pitch Perfect series has established for itself.

Banks is represented by Untitled Entertain and Ziffren Brittenham.