Only in Hollywood
Charlize Theron on the Oscar ‘curse’
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:45:00 03/14/2008
LOS ANGELES, California—The so-called Oscar Curse—the belief that Academy winners struggle with career setbacks after their triumph—was among the topics gamely discussed by Charlize Theron in a recent interview.
Charlize, who won the Oscar Best Actress award in 2004 for her performance in “Monster,” plays a supporting role in the drama “Sleepwalking,” which she produced. The grim indie film, which premiered in Sundance last January, tells the story of a bond that grows between a man, James (Nick Stahl) and his young niece, Tara (Anna Sophia Robb) after the girl’s mother, Joleen (Charlize) abandons her. James is forced to return to the ranch of his and Joleen’s abusive father, Mr. Reedy (Dennis Hopper), in a desperate move to take care of Tara.
The statuesque, stunning actress laughed when a reporter asked her what age she wants to be. The journalist was riffing off Joleen’s line in “Sleepwalking,” “How old do I look to you, James?” When her brother replied “I don’t know,” she advised him that next time a woman asks him that question, he should say the age he thinks the lady wants to hear.
Charlize told the writer with a smile, “Well, did you not learn from the movie? How old do I look?” The reporter answered, “25.” “Well done,” said the actress, who is 32, with a chuckle. “But I like to think of myself as 16.”
Classic beauty
Don’t let Charlize’s classic beauty and poise fool you. Articles have mentioned how she tends to speak in, shall we say, the most colorful language. Charlize’s costar in “In the Valley of Elah,” Josh Brolin, has been quoted as saying—in endearing terms—that she “has the foulest mouth of any woman” he’s met. She tones it down in our press cons with her so she does not come across as “a filthy sailor,” in Nick’s words.
Although they never had a ceremony of any sort to make their union official, Charlize and actor-director Stuart Townsend consider themselves “married.” Stuart directed for the first time in “Battle in Seattle,” about the protests during the 1999 World Trade Organization, which starred Charlize.
In the following excerpt, she spoke lovingly about her mother, Gerda, who figures in the well-known story about the actress. In 1991, Gerda, claiming self-defense and fearing for her life and Charlize’s, shot and killed her husband Charles. South African authorities did not file charges against Gerda.
Articles have been written about the “Oscar curse”—that winners go on a slump after winning. What are your thoughts on that?
What an honor (to win an Oscar)—so few actresses get to experience that. But the next day, you wake up and you go on with your life. It is wrong if I somehow blame the Oscar if things started going bad in my career. I don’t think the Oscar has anything to do with that. We get to make our own decisions. If you’re not making your own decisions, you’re the only one to be blamed for that.
Did your research to portray a flawed mother make you better appreciate your own mother?
Yes but I think that appreciation happens in general when we age. When we get older, we start having a better understanding of what life is all about and how hard life is. When you get into your first relationship and you discover what life is about and how heavy life can be, you have much more of an appreciation for what your parents went through.
What do you admire most about your mother?
Her individuality. It was the greatest thing she has given me. I don’t think she knows that. I don’t even think she set out to teach me that. That’s just how she lived her life and what she encouraged me to do. She was a great mother but at the same time she was very much an individual. She ran a business.
I always say to my friends who are so torn between having a job and leaving kids behind to go to work that their kids will thank them one day. That will be the thing that will inspire them, because I remember watching my mom put her suit and high heels on and go into a board meeting with eight guys. She was running the show and I was like, I want to be like that.
She always encouraged me to be an individual, to have my own philosophy. She never wanted me to always agree with her on politics, religion and all of that stuff.
You have an ever increasing number of friends from different nations. Does developing friendships come easily to you?
I love people, I really do. That’s why I’m an actor. There are elements about this job that is very much like the circus. You get a bunch of strangers and you throw them together, like we did in this movie, in a location like Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada) in minus 57-degree weather. We’re all living together in a dorm—I like that. It throws you out of your safety zone. Nobody gets to go home into their safety zone at night. I like that kind of gypsy life. I never went into my trailer. I’d hang out with the DP (director of photography) and ask him questions. It was just an honest interest that I had.
How do you and Stuart support each other’s work?
I supported him through that entire thing (“Battle in Seattle”). He does the same whenever I’m working. I could not have gotten through this movie if I didn’t have him on the phone every night to bitch to (laughter). I don’t necessarily need to get a credit on his movie. He fully produced that movie on his own. He really did everything. I’m incredibly proud of him.
How was your experience being directed by your husband?
He wasn’t messing around. He was out there trying to direct a project that he really believed in. When he hired me as an actor, I had to come and service that story as best as I possibly could. He wrote the material so he had such a great understanding of the story. He’s a natural. I know it’s bulls--t for me to say it because I’m his wife but that’s just it. It was very much work between the two of us except when I occasionally called him “baby” on the set. He wasn’t happy about it. He said, “Don’t call me baby in front of my crew (laughter).”
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
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