Charlize Theron Says 'Fury Road' Delays Nearly Kept Her Out Of 'Young Adult'

If you're wondering where Charlize Theron has been since her brief role in 2009's "The Road," well, you're not alone. We recently talked to the star about her forthcoming comedy-drama "Young Adult" and she filled us in on where, exactly, she's been. We wondered if this was a conscious choice or if she just hadn't found a role as juicy as the main character in "Young Adult" (she swills Diet Coke and passes out, face down, every night). It turns out that we maybe we were asking the wrong person. We should have talked to George Miller.

"I was kind of getting ready to do a film," Theron told us. "'Fury Road' for Warner Bros. with George Miller. And the film kept pushing. So in a lot of ways I was sitting around waiting to do that movie."

Why has "Fury Road" been pushed so many times? Well, because of Mother Nature. Apparently there have been unseasonable rainstorms that have swept Australia, making the normal sun-bleached plains into tropical paradises.

"Twice now I've been trying to get 'Fury Road' made," Miller told us earlier this month. "We were about to be shooting at the beginning of the year. But we've had unprecedented rains in the Australian desert and what was once a red dry wasteland is now literally a flower garden. And the great salt lakes, where we were to be shooting, are full of pelicans and fish."

What's interesting is that "Mad Max: Fury Road" originally kept Theron from being in "Young Adult," but its repeated delays gave her a way back into the Jason Reitman-directed film.

"I actually had to! pass on this movie because of that," Theron told us. "I was in Australia, two weeks into rehearsals, and the film pushed again so I wound up back in Los Angeles. And Jason [Reitman] called me up and said, 'I heard your movie pushed again, let's do this in a month!' I said, 'Let's do it!'"

Thankfully, the Charlize Theron drought too has run its course, with a number of high profile movies on the way, including Ridley Scott's mysterious "Alien" prequel/sequel/whatchamacallit "Prometheus" and the big budget fairy tale epic "Snow White and the Huntsman." And barring some catastrophic event, "Mad Max: Fury Road" will actually film (for realsies) next year but with Namibia subbing in for Australia. "Young Adult" hits theaters December 16th.

Additional reporting by Todd Gilchrist.