20 Things You Didn't Know About Charlize Theron
5. She Turned Down Pearl Harbor
As mentioned, most consider her breakthrough role as the Southern Belle turned Rosemary's Baby-esque wife of Keanu Reeves in The Devil's Advocate. The film itself is a marvel of absurdities, undergoing several re-writes (some by Pacino himself) and getting further and further away from its source material until it was unrecognizable. But there's no denying it's a fun ride, every actor giving their all to a ridiculous film that includes, but is not limited to, Craig T. Nelson as a Trumpian murderer, Delroy Lindo cursing a man's tongue, noted child pornography-enthusiast Jeffrey Jones and Al Pacino at his post-Scent of Woman over-the-top best.
Reportedly, Reeves is one of the nicest working actors in Hollywood, donating a great portion of what he makes to cancer research (which took his sister). So it makes sense Theron was up to working with him again in the critical and commercial flop Sweet November. This is another decision that may have slowed down her early career, as it came at the expense of rejecting Kate Beckinsale's role in Pearl Harbor.
On the plus side, she turned down working with a man who has been described as "Hitler" (Michael Bay) to work with the nicest guy in town.