Theron's twisted wit seen in Adult'

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 all 6-foot-6 of Charlize Theron, recalls Reitman, intentionally exaggerating Therons height by 8 inches. I was really understandably intimidated.

But when Theron, already a few drinks into the night, revealed a more depraved sense of humor than her image would suggest, Reitman realized they had more in common than he expected: I was like, Oh! I like you.

The meeting was both fortuitous, in that it directly led to Theron staring in Reitmans new film Young Adult, and an early hint to the tone of their collaboration. In Young Adult, Theron plays Mavis Gary, a teen fiction ghostwriter 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 Therons comedic side, but shows more of her true nature than her previous work. Not that Theron is anything like Mavis more deplorable aspects, but she shares Mavis sharp elbows and sharper wit.

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 foulmouthed 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 has! nt 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 together.

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. Following Young Adult which is earning Theron her best reviews since Monster shell be seen in Ridley Scotts Prometheus and the fantasy Snow White & the Huntsman, which also stars Kristen Stewart.

Theron, 36, grew up on a farm outside Johannesburg, South Africa. While she was a teenager, her mother shot and killed Therons alcoholic and abusive father. When she was 16, she 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 toward acting.

After Monster, Theron drew acclaim again for a supporting role in the somber anti-war film In the Valley of Elah and for the atypical superhero film Hancock.

But all the while, there were hints in her filmography of comedic leanings.

In 2005, she had a memorable arc on Arrested Development as the love interest of Jason Batemans character. Her character had a mental disability, but the joke was on those around her, who didnt notice because of her British accent.

The opportunity arose when Monster director Patty Jenkins directed an episode of the series, and Theron asked her to relay to creator Mitch Hurwitz her pleading to be on the show. She calls the experience a great, great learning experience in how comedy neednt be played for comedy, but rather portrayed realistically.

The bizarre thing is that Ive always had kind of a sick, twisted sense of humor, Theron says. But my work, for some reason, has always veered to the dramatic stuff. I think thats because Ive never really been that driven by genre, but I find that I want to play people that ! feel rea l.

I do think in comedy its harder to find non-caricatures.