Charlize Theron is the fairest of them all
Sat, May 26, 2012
The New Paperby Jason Johnson
Charlize Theron is, like, the hugest.
The South African former model has been around forever, famous and successful forever, but it's only this year that she seems to have exploded as Tinseltown's top lady star.
I honestly can't think of another actress that's at her level right now - old enough to have built up an impressive resume, young enough to still get the really plum roles.
The likes of Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon don't even come close.
Theron's like the Angelina Jolie of 2012. At 36, she's reached the pinnacle of her career, starring in not one, but two big summer tent-pole action blockbusters.
In Snow White And The Huntsman, which opens here on May 31, she plays Queen Ravenna, an unenlightened despot who sets out to feed on the heart of her nemesis Snow White (Kristen Stewart) to stay forever young, where beauty is equated to power.
Unlike Julia Roberts, who gave a campy performance as the Evil Queen in this year's other Snow White movie, Mirror Mirror, Theron remains an actress very much in her prime.
She is certainly every bit as beautiful as her 22-year-old co-star, Stewart.
In an interview with MTV, Stewart expressed admiration for Theron's shiny blonde charisma: "Some people intimidate you. Some people's energy is so big, you feel like you don't fit in the room. But with her, I really appreciate how different we are.
"I love the effect she has on people. I find it hilarious. I love watching it happen. I do not have that. Maybe I have something else, but it's definitely not as visceral.
"Also, she's really hilarious... She puts me to shame, to be honest."
Look at the poster for Snow White And The Huntsman and you'll see that Queen Ravenna is front and centre, both Snow White! and the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) pushed to the sides.
And she gets to wear much nicer outfits!
Queen Ravenna is not Cruella de Vil; she's smokin', and surprisingly sympathetic.
"After all of these years playing these conflicted bad people, or people that everybody wants to call bad, I think what I've learnt is that there is no such thing as an evil person or a bad person," said Theron.
"The challenge for both Kristen and I was to ground these characters so that they weren't just black and white, two polar opposites going to war.
"We wanted to show two women, who are just human with some magical fantastical aspects to them and to really ground them in reality and give them emotions that people could relate to."
Based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, but with many significant departures, the film focuses as much on Queen Ravenna's story as Snow White's.
Plays the role straight
Theron, who turned down Clint Eastwood's J Edgar for it, plays the role straight, with both fire and nuance - none of that self-amused eyebrow-arching we saw from Roberts in Mirror Mirror.
It's the sort of performance you'd expect from the actress who won an Oscar for Monster (2003), and who went on to shine in projects ranging from the acclaimed North Country (for which she earned another Oscar nomination) to the funky, Young Adult.
Some cynics might say she's been struck by the "Oscar curse" since winning Best Actress - Aeon Flux (2005) was a disaster - but she's pretty much just been doing her own thing.
She's not like Katherine Heigl, who gravitates to more mass-type entertainment.
Theron took chances on smaller pictures like Battle In Seattle and The Road - after which she went on a two-year hiatus to travel, and take up photography and art - instead of diving into something like 27 Dresses.
On why she always seems to seek out challenging, sometimes difficult roles, she said: "I don't think any actor ever wants it to be easy. I have! to do s omething that makes me ask bigger questions. I think those complex characters keep me on my toes...
"It's very nice of you to say it's brave, but I feel like it's the greatest gift."
As it happens, her integrity has paid off - not just anyone gets called up to be in a tent-pole blockbuster like Snow White And The Huntsman.
Fewer still get a call from master director Ridley Scott, the man behind sci-fi flick Prometheus - the prequel to his seminal 1979 film, Alien - which opens here on June 7.
He'd originally wanted her for the lead. But she was already committed to the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road, and so he offered her a slightly smaller role.
"I'd rather be a smaller character in a great film than the lead in a s***ty movie," she told Entertainment Weekly.
She plays Meredith Vickers, an evil, cold and frigid suit who runs the machine sent to monitor the exploration of an alien planet, and during production she pushed to make the character all that she could be.
"She starts out one thing and ends up another thing," hinted Theron. "It's a pretty nice surprise, towards the third act, so I don't want to ruin that for you, but she really does start out very one-dimensional.
"The great thing about Ridley is that he shoots everything so layered that you always wonder.
"There were many days that I showed up and he would do this tiny little thing like throw me in the corner, just lurking. And then, all of a sudden, that became a character trait.
"I would always be in the corner, lurking over everybody, and not saying anything, but just watching.
"Then, you realise that it really adds to this enigma of this character and what her agenda really is."
Unlike her characters in Snow White And The Huntsman and Prometheus, the thing that really strikes one about Theron is how much fun she seems to be having.
Though she obviously takes her work seriously, she knows how to chill.
Just take a look at her hilarious video on Funnyordie.com, i! n which her "secret" home videos are made public.
She's seen shouting at her dog, stalking some random dude and sleep farting.
Though she's primarily known as a more serious thespian, she's funny as heck, and her cool personality has earned as much admiration as her beauty, as amazing as that is to contemplate.
Even the Internet seems to love her, which is a claim poor Stewart could never make.
"I'm incredibly blessed," said the single mum who adopted a baby boy a few months ago.
"I have amazing friends and people in my life. I have my health. I'm fit, I can run a marathon. I have a refrigerator full of food.
"What's not to be grateful for? Life is amazingly good."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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