Call Jane stars Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver are eager to continue the conversation around the timely, abortion-centered film. Taking place in pre-Roe v. Wade Chicago, Banks plays a housewife who faces the difficult decision to terminate her second pregnancy after a devastating diagnosis; Weaver stars as Virginia, the head of the Jane Collective, an underground organization that helps Banks’ Joy obtain a safe procedure after she’s turned away by male doctors.
Recently, Weaver spoke with MovieWeb in an exclusive interview about what drew her to the project. She spoke about the importance of the subject matter and mentioned how she found the movie “very inspiring.”
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Banks also spoke about how Call Jane was a perfect project for her to take on, given how closely the film and its values align with her own moral beliefs. She goes on to explain that her hope that the film will help others better understand what it’s like for women who are in a similar situation to Banks’ character.
Banks Says Her Character is Someone Both Men and Women Can Relate To
In another interview with ScreenRant, the actresses also touched more on the personal experiences that drew them to the film, which comes not long after the Supreme Court overturned the ruling that guaranteed a Constitutional right to abortion.
“You know, I was alive before Roe vs. Wade was passed, and I feel like it’s because of how women protested and demanded this that it was passed, and it was passed all around the country,” Weaver, 73, said. While the legendary actress says that she can’t imagine returning to pre-Roe days (where women often turned to back-alley abortions as they lacked any other choice), she was ultimately drawn to the film because of the solidarity of the Jane Collective.
She adds:
Banks also said that she was drawn to the Phyllis Nagy-led project because her character Joy was one that could be relatable to a wide range of people, and she hopes that it lands with audiences.
“Most people in America don’t feel political about women’s access to abortions, it’s understood that it’s not that kind of choice, it’s a choice that life makes you take one path or another, and I couldn’t imagine really going back to the days without Roe v. Wade. It’s a shock to me that we have, but I must say, thinking about this movie, seeing this movie about this group of women who don’t get discouraged, who build each other up, who keep going and keep extending their care to women, how they support each other, they respect each other, they respect this procedure.”
Call Jane is now playing in theaters.
“I love the character of Joy, I really thought she was woman whose life hadn’t really gotten started, even though she was nearly 40 years old and has this political awakening after walking a path she never thinks she’ll have to, and meeting Virginia and Virginia’s gang of Janes, she really finds a sense of purpose. I felt like that was a really relatable notion to a lot of women, whether or not they ever seek abortion, health care, a sense of feeling seen, and a sense of sisterhood, camaraderie, community, all of those things mattered to me when I read the script. I just thought this is something a story that many women, and men, will feel connected to.”
