When Charlize Theron hits the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 25–that’s Golden Globes night–you can bet the hardworking journos of “Access Hollywood,” “Entertainment Tonight,” et al., will be chatting her up on the subject of makeovers. There will be questions about the 30 pounds she gained for her work in “Monster,” about the diet of Krispy Kremes and carbs, the layers of makeup, the yellowy dental work and her personal regimen of, well, not exercising one whit.
To be sure, the physical transformation that the tall, glamorous model-turned-actress makes is startling. As Aileen Wuornos, the Florida serial killer who was put to death in 2002, the svelte lynx of “2 Days in the Valley,” the sultry safecracker of “The Italian Job,” are nowhere to be found. But South Africa-reared Theron–nominated for a best-actress Golden Globe for “Monster,” and winner of the same citation last week from the National Society of Film Critics–hopes audiences and the media can get beyond the weight gain, the bad teeth, the freckles and the unflattering clothes.
“I don’t like that such a big deal is made out of it,” she says. “You know, I’ve always felt like the word ‘brave’ is kind of misused. As soon as you throw your looks away for some reason, you’re deemed ‘brave.’ That’s not fair. I never wanted it to be about that.”
The film, a directorial debut from Patty Jenkins, tracks Wuornos, a hard-drinking prostitute who admitted to killing seven men in cold blood in the early 1990s. It also chronicles her love affair with a young woman, played by Christina Ricci. The couple’s intense, needy, ultimately reckless relationship is at the heart of Jenkins’ film.
Theron, 28, first read Jenkins’ script when she was working on “The Italian Job” in 2002. It was the first the actress had heard of Wuornos, who was convicted in 1991 and spent the next decade on Death Row in Florida.
“When I’m working on a film, I tend to not read [other scripts],” Theron says. “But my manager called and said, ‘I know you don’t want to read it, but it’s an offer, and you have to look at it straight away.’
Theron met with Jenkins, a painter-turned-filmmaker who had just graduated from the American Film Institute. The actress–whose work had pretty much been limited to roles as the fetching wife, the fetching girlfriend or the fetching femme fatale in projects such as “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Cider House Rules,” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance”–was intrigued. But she also was wary about working with a novice behind the lens.
“So, I wanted to meet her as soon as possible, because she was really going to make it or break it for me. And within 20 minutes of sitting down and talking to her I just knew I wanted to do it … and knew that she was the person to direct it.”
Theron says she also was taken by Jenkins’ absolute fearlessness–and faith in her star.
“When a director believes in you, there’s nothing you won’t do,” says Theron, who served as one of the low-budget pic’s producers.
But Theron says she woke up every morning during the monthlong Florida shoot feeling very afraid.
“I was scared all the way. I was constantly having anxiety attacks and terrible dreams. Just trying to find [Wuornos], and searching for that greater truth of her, was constant. That never stopped, and I think with that comes a certain amount of doubt. … But you just have to rise above that.”
Now, Theron is likely to rise above those assumptions in Hollywood about the kinds of roles she can and can’t do.
“Hopefully, now it will be a little easier for directors to see me differently and maybe take a chance.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
