CHARLIZE THERON
By: George Spencer
In this day and age of cinematic super heroes, audiences have come to expect the plight of mere mortal men who have to step outside their comfort zone, adopt a secret identity and fight for truth and justice. Mild mannered Clark Kent stuffs himself into some blue tights and becomes high-flying Superman. Shy and reserved Peter Parker dons a spandex suit and swings through the skyscrapers as Spiderman while billionaire Bruce Wayne just needs to adorn his body in flexible rubber to be crime fighter Batman.
Though no one would ever question their true motives to save our planet, in each case our male protagonists have a beautiful woman in their peripheral vision that somehow motivates, inspires, antagonizes, befuddles, cajoles and downright frustrates them. While these women don’t get their chance to leap tall buildings in a single bound, in each case they provide more than just an attractive distraction for a day’s job. More often than not, they are the emotional cores of the story.
But what would happen, as life sometimes mysteriously dictates, if some of these aforementioned traits and behaviors got thrown out of the window and turned upside down? What if our super hero was a slob, an alcoholic who grew tired of saving people? What if every time he attempted to liberate a hostile situation, he only made matters worse? And what if the beautiful woman who comes into his life causes more stress and aggravation? These questions beg to ask – how far can the genre be bent?
“We have taken it to the extreme,” laughs Charlize Theron, trying to describe the chaotic and decidedly different world of HANCOCK, a new film that attempts to answers those very uncertainties. “We have never seen a super hero live a life that is this uncomfortable to watch. You will be very conflicted in the first act of the movie because Hancock is not a nice guy. He has no social skills and you cannot even have a normal conversation with him. All of this leads to great humor but allows a real truth to come out.”
HANCOCK stars Will Smith as the title character in this action comedy about what happens when a quintessential hero grows tired of his responsibilities. Neglectful and awkward, this flawed man soon earns the scorn of the very people he is supposed to protect when disaster follows wherever he goes. But all hope is not lost when an indebted public relations executive Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) decides to remake Hancock’s image after our hero saves his life. However, this path to normalcy gets entangled when he encounters Embrey’s beautiful and devoted wife Mary (Theron). This seemingly typical suburban soccer mom, who ferociously wants to protect her version of the happily married family, finds that bubble bursting when Hancock enters her life and all that we think we know gets twisted and turned as secrets get revealed.
What inspired the Oscar winning actress to sign up for the project came down to one simple fact. “It’s all about story for me,” she attests. “You read something and it just sticks with you. I liked the conflict that these characters found themselves in. It was the same when I did MONSTER. There was something really interesting about this story.”
As an actor devoted to serving that story, Theron was fascinated by the concept of taking an archetypal hero and inhabiting him with more human conditions. “We are all flawed beings and yet we don’t allow our heroes to reside with those traits.”
In an era where the tabloids thrive on showcasing the famous in their most embarrassing moments, Theron has tasted first hand the insatiable appetitive of the media to platform mistakes. “Why do we like to see our famous people wearing no underwear, getting DUI’s or being arrested? It has almost become the ‘in’ thing and I am not sure what that says about our society.”
As the film chronicles the unraveling of a hero and the public’s judgment of that, Theron was touched by how we so readily make others feel different. “Aren’t we all different in some small way,” she queries. “Does it now become how people judge those differences? Why is gay marriage illegal? How do we dictate what kind of love is valid? Why does it matter if love happens between a man and a man, a man and a woman, or a black man and a white woman? As we so readily know, it is not easy to live in this world when you are made to feel different.”
One wonders how easily Thereon can relate to being different, given her beauty and achievements, but that would only signify a prejudice that somehow suggests success buffers anyone from the blunt forces of reality. “I think everyone feels different. It doesn’t matter what your background is,” she offers up. “Life is hard and trying to live a true life, which isn’t always easy because of the situations we all get thrown in, can make you feel like you are not part of the great mass.”
For the actress, her own path to living a true life has been a remarkable journey covering more than three continents and more than a few accents. Born and raised on a farm just outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, Theron lived a life as far removed from life under the microscope as possible. An only child, Charlize flourished in the outdoors, taking her part in raising the animals and doing farm chores; though she did find time to engage her creative self with dance training.
The statuesque beauty left home at age twelve to attend an arts-oriented private school in Johannesburg where she began to show true promise as a dancer. Years later, at the encouragement of her mother, Theron entered a modeling contest and won the top prize. Soon, she was signed by an agency and after quitting school, traveled Europe as a runway and advertising model. Though encouraged to pursue the profession, a dance career was the light that beckoned.
At age nineteen, she was accepted into the prestigious Joffrey Ballet in New York City but less than one year later, a serious knee injury curtailed that dream. Initially returning to the modeling career, she eventually found herself in Los Angeles trying to break in the business as an actress.
It was a quality that would soon inhabit much of her screen persona as well, that of the strong willed and determined woman, which ironically would serve as the catalyst to launching her career. Throwing what could best be described as a temper tantrum at a bank when a teller refused to cash her check, the event was witnessed by a talent manager, John Crosby. Impressed with her verve, he introduced her to casting directors and enrolled her in acting classes. In a few months time, she made her Hollywood debut with a three second, non-speaking role in CHILDREN OF THE CORN IIII (1995). The next year, she appeared in the independent film 2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY, playing a sexy Norwegian hit woman.
Refusing to capitalize on just a sex appeal image, Theron parlayed smaller pivotal roles in such films as THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE, CELEBRITY, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, and THE YARDS as a training ground for her craft; leading up to her tour de force portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wournos in MONSTER (2003), a performance that not only delivered a well earned Academy Award but also the opportunity to work on projects that dealt with the issues of the human spirit.
With HANCOCK, Theron was quite intrigued with how the film cleverly delved into the territory of married life, a province she has yet to legally cross into herself (Happily partnered with actor Stuart Townsend, the couple, who have been together since 2001, declare themselves “married” even though they have never had an official union.) “Here is this woman that seems content but yet is she really. We don’t want to believe that a married woman who has kids might have this fear deep down inside her that there is a part of herself that might not be as content as she believes. It is proven here when Hancock enters her life and this immense chemistry between the two throws her life upside down.”
It is that immense chemistry, which Theron refers to as simply ‘mad chemistry’ that has her most visibly excited about HANCOCK. Having previously shared the screen with Will Smith in THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, the two actors had limited scenes together and always hoped to do another project. Speaking as though president of her co-star’s fan club, Theron cannot offer enough accolades.
“Will is such a rare breed,” she begins. “He is a phenomenal actor, incredibly smart and inspiring for me to be around. He works from such a raw place that that is what made me fall madly in love with him. He has this willingness to go anywhere he needs to go to get what is needed.” Testifying how an actor of his clout and box office triumphs could easily rest on his laurels, she notes how instead he pushes harder, not only physically but figuratively as well.
“We pushed each other’s buttons,” she giggles up as evidence. “From what I have heard, he has never had that relationship on set before and I think it really worked. He was not going to push me around and he wouldn’t let me push him around.” Then almost apologetically, she adds, “And so the challenge was to see how far we could try and push each other. Poor Jason got stuck as being the middleman.”
Reading a newspaper or turning on the TV can besiege an already overwhelmed public. Could HANCOCK be the perfect summer escape?
“I think this will be the craziest ride an audience ever has had,” Theron sums up. “This film is so original. We took something an audience is familiar with and did something very unique with it. I have been in this business fourteen years, and when I walked out of the theater after seeing a screening; I told my manager that this was so original. Trust me, that is not a word I use often in this town.”
And just how curious is she to what the spectators of the film might say? “I hate to project what people will take out of this film, but I sure would love to listen.”