Charlize: A "sick, twisted sense of humour"
NEW YORK Jason Reitman was under the same impression many are of Charlize Theron. He knew she was a fiercely talented actress, prone to burying her stunning beauty behind gritty, intense performances like her Academy Award-winning one as a murderous prostitute in 2003s Monster.
Then she told him a dirty joke.
Theron approached Reitman at last years Oscars to tell him how much she liked his then recent film, Up in the Air, and that shed love to work with him.
I got a tap on the shoulder and I turn around and its ... Charlize Theron, recalls Reitman. I was really understandably intimidated.
But when Theron, already a few drinks into the night, revealed a more depraved sense of humour than her image would suggest, Reitman realised they had more in common than he expected: I was like, Oh! I like you.
Theron, for her part, doesnt recall the joke, but acknowledged: That sounds about correct.
The meeting was both fortuitous, in that it directly led to Theron starring in Reitmans new film Young Adult, and an early hint to the tone of their collaboration. In Young Adult (which was written by Diablo Cody of Juno fame), Theron plays Mavis Gary, a teen fiction ghost writer who returns to her hometown in rural Minnesota to lure her now-married former boyfriend. As a woman whose nostalgia has swelled to demented proportions, Theron is bitingly caustic and hilariously candid.
The performance not only reveals her comedic side, but shows more of her true nature than her previous work. Not that Theron is anything like Garys more deplorable aspects, but she shares Garys sharp wi! t.
Most people who know me, who have seen the film, are not that shocked, Theron said in a recent interview during which she was self-deprecating, unguardedly foul-mouthed and thoughtful. The film is way more my personality and closer to anything that Ive done.
Its also Therons first film in nearly three years. In between, she prepared to star in an ambitious Mad Max sequel, Fury Road, which was repeatedly delayed and still hasnt been shot. She worked on developing projects with her production company, including a drama series for HBO with David Fincher. She also split with the Irish actor Stuart Townsend after nearly a decade.
Ill be very honest: I wasnt missing it, Theron says of acting. Its hard to miss something when nothing was kind of sparking that instrument to get excited about.
That period, though, appears to be over.
In addition to Young Adult which is earning Theron her best reviews since Monster and a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a musical or comedy she can be seen in Ridley Scotts Prometheus and the fantasy Snow White & the Huntsman.
Theron (36) grew up on a farm outside Johannesburg. While she was a teenager, her mother shot and killed her alcoholic, abusive father. When she was 16, Theron became a model in Milan. She later moved to New York to train as a ballet dancer, but a knee injury pushed her out of dance and towards acting. After a number of small roles as girlfriend types in films such as The Devils Advocate and The Cider House Rules, her performance in Monster changed her trajectory considerably. When she won best actress at the Oscars, Nelson Mandela hailed her for putting South Africa on the map.
Since then, Theron, who lives in Los Angeles, received a second Oscar nomination for her performance as a miner in North Country. Although the science fiction Aeon Flux bombed, Theron drew acclaim again for a supporting role in the somb! er anti- war film In the Valley of Elah and for the atypical superhero film Hancock.
Theron also appeared on an early episode of Zach Galifianakiss faux-interview web series Between Two Ferns, as revered a comedy calling-card as there is. On it, Theron flirted with Galifianakis before pulling the rug out from him, cackling at the idea of her being attracted to a fat garden gnome.
The bizarre thing is that Ive always had kind of a sick, twisted sense of humour, says Theron. But my work, for some reason, has always veered to the dramatic stuff.
The comedian-actor Patton Oswalt, who plays an old high school acquaintance of Garys who turns into a drinking buddy in Young Adult, said at the Gotham Awards that Theron has the kind of humour that someone who looks like me has.
The two found an unlikely chemistry in Young Adult right from the start. Before ever meeting, they did a table read in Reitmans dining room and immediately connected.
I realised I was going to be working with a really great actor, says Oswalt.
Whether its Monster or Young Adult, Theron commits fully to a character. Asked how she manages that, she doesnt miss a beat: Alcohol. Sapa-AP.
YOUNG ADULT IS BEING RELEASED IN SOUTH AFRICA ON MARCH 16.
LOS ANGELES Young Adult director Jason Reitman, screenwriter Diablo Cody and stars Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival. In a news release, festival chairperson Harold Matzner called Young Adult a truly unique and utterly enjoyable film, adding: The film makers and cast represent some of the most exciting film-making work of the year
The 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival starts on January 5 and runs until January 16. The awards gala will take place on January 7. TheWrap.com
Comments
Post a Comment