Elizabeth Banks Gets Serious In Beach Boys Biopic

Elizabeth Banks is known for her sometimes raunchy sense of humor (The 40-Year Old Virgin, Zack And Miri Make A Porno), but for her upcoming project with Paul Giamatti and John Cusack, she’s getting pretty serious.

Banks and Cusack play a smitten couple in Love & Mercy, a biopic about Beach Boys star Brian Wilson, and a new trailer shows Banks and Cusack–who plays an older version of Wilson–meeting and falling for one another despite the best efforts of Wilson’s therapist and writing partner, Dr. Eugene Landy, to keep them apart.

The film promises viewers that “Once you know the whole story, you’ll never hear the music in quite the same way,” with Cusack revealing to Banks that he sometimes hears voices. Paul Dano plays Wilson in his younger years.

Banks and her upcoming directorial project, Pitch Perfect 2, have been getting a lot of attention recently, after star Anna Kendrick’s “take no crap” pose on the film’s poster inspired thousands of other girls to do the same on social media, calling it the “Boss Pitch.” The trend has grown exponentially in the last several weeks, with Kendrick re-tweeting photos of her fans striking the pose in front of the poster. The draw is that Kendrick refused to pull a sexy look in the poster, something that garnered criticism from the studio.

“This is crazy! They were sweating because I wouldn’t strike a sexy pose. Love that you guys embrace Beca the bada**!” Kendrick wrote on social media.

Banks has been involved in the mega-successful film franchise since the beginning, although it’s not clear if she’ll be tackling the rumored third film.

“Elizabeth originated the idea for Pitch Perfect and was instrumental in making the first film such a huge success. She brings an enormous amount of energy and experience to everything she works on and we’re thrilled that she is making her feature directorial debut on Pitch Perfect 2,” said Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley.

Elizabeth Banks has had a huge couple of years, taking roles in blockbusters like The Lego Movie and The Hunger Games. Love & Mercy hits theaters June 15.

[Photo courtesy Love & Mercy/YouTube]