|
Return
to World Society and People Main Page
Return
to World Celebrities News and Events
Theron: "I started changing her
ways, focusing on her craft rather than her career."
 Photo:
Actress Charlize Theron smiles during a press conference for the movie
North Country during the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Monster Oscar made Charlize
Theron more than another pretty Hollywood face, but it took her a
while to get there. Since her high-profile coming out party in 1996's
2 Days in The Valley, she had been involved in a series of movies that
either bombed critically, or commercially, or both. But rather than
worry about it, the 30-year-old Theron says she started changing her
ways, focusing on her craft rather than her career. Her award-winning
portrayal of the Monster serial killer was the beginning of that new
vision. And now there is North Country, a telling expose of sexual
harassment and the precedent-setting Minnesota class action suit that
resulted from it. Opening Oct. 21, the Niki Caro film features Theron
as the divorced mother of two who initiates the suit after trying to
survive unwanted advances at an iron mine near the small town where
she lives.
 With
that kind of ammunition, Theron and director Caro, of Whale Rider
fame, decided against elaborate physical remodelling for the lead
actress, although she did agree to gain 25 pounds, rounding out her
model-thin five-foot-10-inch figure. Physically, they kept the movie
simple. Emotionally, they tried to keep it subtle. But what was most
unsettling? "The events took place not 40 years ago, but in 1989 and
the case was settled in '95," says Theron, still shaking her head in
disbelief. North Country is a difficult story to tell, but both Theron
and Caro decided to hire a first-rate cast to tell the tale with lots
of finesse. Most notably, they signed two other best actress Oscar
winners: Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter), who plays Theron's
mother, and Frances McDormand (Fargo) who portrays Theron's best
friend. Fact is, it's the first time three best actress Oscar winners
have appeared in the same film. So North Country's Oscar potential
must have figured into Theron's rationale for doing the film. "I don't
really think that way," she says. "It would be selfish and self-centred
to say I might have a chance ever again in my career." That doesn't
mean she'll stop challenging herself with assorted acting experiences.
As she looks back, she agrees "it wasn't an easy journey," especially
arriving in Los Angeles as a former model with a South African accent
and ambition, but not much else. It was during her early days in
Hollywood that she experienced her only moment of sexual harassment:
"Most people understand pretty quickly that I won't put up with much."
 But
I just got to L.A. and didn't have an agent," Theron recalls. "A
famous director [whom she won't name] had arranged a meeting," but it
ended up being rescheduled for his house on a Saturday night. "I had
never been on a movie audition in my entire life so I thought, 'Well,
maybe that's what they do.' "The director answered the door in his
pajamas and served drinks. "I lasted about 10 minutes and left," she
recalls. Perhaps times have changed but Theron says she hasn't,
although she's in a more secure place professionally -- and
personally. Her five-year relationship with Irish actor Stuart
Townshend helps. "He challenges me and keeps me on my toes," she says.
And so do her varied roles. On the lighter side, Theron is featured in
five episodes of the sitcom Arrested Development this season. Later
this year, she can be seen as the statuesque hired killer in the film
version of the animated MTV show Aeon Flux.It's the film in which she
injured herself attempting a hand spring. "I landed on my neck with my
body straight," says Theron, who suffered a herniated disc in her
third and fourth vertebrae last year. After seven weeks of bed rest,
"intense physiotherapy and cortisone treatments," she was back on the
shoot. "The show," Theron proudly says, "did go on."- By Bob Tomson |
|
 |
