Charlize Theron – A Life in Pictures, BAFTA Tribute
On her first role; ‘I was totally unprepared for that. A year earlier I had bought a one-way ticket from South Africa to Hollywood and now I was seven feet tall in my underwear on a billboard’.
Shes been an assassin, a coal miner, a supermodel and an astronauts wife; portrayed Britt Ekland, transformed herself into the most misunderstood monster of modern times, been tortured by Satan and is soon to be seen as the evil queen with her murderous sights set on Snow White. I am talking about the beautiful, blonde bombshell from South Africa, Charlize Theron.
It seems a little premature to have a Life in Pictures tribute for Theron; at just 36 she has only been on screen for 16 years since making her debut in 2 Days in the Valley. She had been in Hollywood less than a year when she won the role of Helga and her sexy performance stole the show and earned her a dominant role on the movie poster in her lingerie, I was totally unprepared for that. A year earlier I had bought a one-way ticket from South Africa to Hollywood and now I was seven feet tall in my underwear on a billboard.
Dressed in a figure hugging white dress and slinky black heels she sits crossed legged and stares into my soul with her bewitching blue eyes; she is more stunning in person than on screen, even more so than her performance as a polymorphously perverse supermodel in Woody Allens Celebrity where she steals the heart of Kenneth Branaghs uncanny representation of Woody Allen. Speaking of this early role in her career, Charlize, a former model, expressed her terrifying fear of being typecast as a pretty face. The one role I said I would never do was play a model, but when Woody Allen offered me this part I knew I had to do it, and not just because I wanted to work with him but because I knew the tone would be fitting; it would be comedic not sincere.
Such a stern stance seems naïve and almost foolish for someone who arrived in Hollywood without any acting training, but Therons background as a dancer and her ability to tell stories through dance gave her the confidence she could act, I didnt come from an acting background, and hadnt been brought up in a theatre culture where actors and actresses were spoken about with revere. But I had seen a lot of movies and always loved the process of story telling.
However, she is quick to give credit to her co-stars in those early days, who helped her hone her skills, I had the great fortune to work with so many greats early in my career; Al Pacino and James Spader, those guys will not let you sit back and I learned so much from them.
Moving to Monster, the film that put her on the map as a serious dramatic actress as apposed to the pretty face she had unwittingly become, Charlize is quick to get away from talking about the transformation she underwent for that film, mainly because the concentration that has followed. Every role since Monster they say, shes transforming. Yeah, I changed my appearance but Im not transforming. For North Country I cut my hair and had dirt on my face. The real transformation is for the red carpet and the gowns.
Shes more interested in talking about the process of getting into the mindset of Aileen Wuornos, and the attention to detail to the facts she paid. I watched both Nick Broomfield documentaries and I felt that we had to be so faithful to the facts. But then I realised, all these people are dead, Aileen is dead and on her testimony before she died, she was saying these admissions just to get her life, this horrible life she had lived, over. She wanted to die, So the real truth would never be told regardless of what we did. So I think in movies where youre playing real people, you should be respectful of the people involved and the families who are still alive, but at the same time focus on the greater truth.
Theron was also a producer on Monster, a role she has continued to take on future movies including The Burning Plain and Sleepwalking. Her production company played a part in the production of her latest film, Young Adult, which is released early next year. Directed by Jason Reitman and penned by Diablo Cody, Theron is quick to point out she did not personally act as producer on this one, giving the credit to her producer partner, but did have a say in the script, so to speak. When I read it, I loved it, and I really wanted to work with Jason, but I said I will only do it if the third act stayed exactly as it is. When I found out he was in agreement that it was the third act of this one that made him want to make it, I was in.
Theron plays a writer of fiction for young people who returns to her hometown to steal her high school sweetheart away from his wife. Its somewhat of a departure for Theron, not just because it is comedy, but it also sees her playing an unsympathetic, anti-hero. And this switch to characters that an audience arent firmly behind continues in her forthcoming fantasy adventure where she plays the iconic Evil Queen opposite Kristen Stewarts Snow White in Snow White the Huntsmen. The topic of accents comes up. Originally from South Africa, Theron speaks with an American accent with a slight twang one cant quite put their finger on. I never spoke English in South Africa. I could speak it, but I never did, I always spoke Afrikaans. So I really learned to speak English with an American accent. But for the Evil Queen, Theron settled on a British accent; which is seemingly the fitting accent for villains, but why?
I felt she had to be British. It juts felt right, she says, laughing then coyly saying,Its my first attempt at the British accent so I hope I havent let you down.
Witty, charming, beautiful and completely lacking any pretension, Charlize Theron is an absolute delight. Young Adult is released December 16th in the U.S. and not until February in the UK and if the trailer and preview clips are anything to go by, Miss. Theron may well have another Oscar to polish come next April.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_-v7dEEoo