Elizabeth Banks Says She’s Aging Naturally ‘So Far’ but Is Feeling the Pressure To Hold on to Youth

Elizabeth Banks hasn’t gotten any surgery or filler but that doesn’t mean she isn’t feeling the pressure to stop the natural aging process.

The actress, 50, talked to SheKnows ahead of the release of her new thriller Skincare, in which she plays a celebrity aesthetician who is scrambling to hold on to her domination of Hollywood as her clients begin to pivot to the next young and hot new thing.

“I’m attempting to age gracefully, so far,” Banks tells us of her decision to reject plastic surgery. “It’s daily on my mind, I am falling victim and prey to the entire patriarchal society in which I am a member.” When it comes to beauty secrets, Banks notes that she’s “very old school” and believes the best things she can do for her skin are “hydration and sleep and staying out of the sun” but as for the mindset shift needed to embrace aging, that part is more difficult.

“I’m attempting to understand that I will have my time, and then I will have to pass the baton to those who are coming up next behind me, who are young and beautiful and talented,” she says but she’s not going to disappear easily.

“I am going to hold on to it as long as I can because this is my power and it’s how I make my money,” Banks adds. “I love what I do and I believe in it, and I think I’ve forged a trust with an audience. I want to keep entertaining people as long as they’ll have me, so I’m going to keep going.”

In Skincare, which was directed by Austin Peters, Banks plays aesthetician Hope Goldman, who is on the cusp of expanding her successful aesthetician boutique into her very own skin care brand. When a rival aesthetician, played by Luis Gerardo Méndez, opens a boutique across from hers and attracts attention from some of her most loyal clients, Hope begins to lean on twisted guidance from life coach Jordan, played by Lewis Pullman.

As Banks notes, Hope is grappling with a question many women struggle with and demonize themselves for: “What does ambition look like in a woman?”

“She’s someone who prides herself on having being the ultimate image of youth, beauty, skin care and staying young and relevant in Hollywood,” Banks describes. “She, suddenly, is very much none of those things and I relate to that too.”

“I’m a middle aged actress in Hollywood. It felt very relatable to me to be someone who is trying to figure out what is the future of my business?”

“We’re always looking for the fountain of youth,” Banks notes later in our interview. “It’s just not possible to maintain that level of relevancy, especially in that business, in that town. That’s what I felt was great about the film because it is a giant pressure cooker on this woman, on this aging beauty.”

Skincare hits theaters on August 16.

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