THERON ON EQUAL PAY, FEMALE ACTION STARS
Charlize Theron has a message to audiences: watch female-driven movies, and studios will make more.
“I always say to studios, ‘Make more female-driven movies’, and they say, ‘We would if people go and see them’. So, go see those movies,” says Theron.
While doing the promotion of her upcoming film, Atomic Blonde, she addressed the Hollywood pay gap, her own pet peeves about female action star clichés and whether or not she’d be open to playing a female James Bond, now that even Doctor Who has been made into a woman.
On the Bond question, posed by her old co-star Chris Hemsworth, Theron said she’s “all for it”, but is fine “leaving that one over to Daniel (Craig) or Idris (Elba).”
“I’ll do Lorraine,” she said in reference to her Atomic Blonde character — a ruthless British spy on a mission in Berlin near the end of the Cold War.
“I think that this character is someone who can hopefully live and breathe in that same format,” says Theron.
Atomic Blonde hits theaters on July 28 and is a project Theron has been developing for years. “We don’t need to lose a child or a husband or have some kind of revenge story to become a warrior,” says Theron, adding, “(Lorraine) exists. She’s simply her. We don’t ever over explain why she exists or why she’s any good at her job.”
Going along with the theme of female empowerment, Theron also celebrated director Patty Jenkins’ success with Wonder Woman. Jenkins directed Theron in her Oscar-winning performance in Monster 17 years ago.
“We need to have more women make these movies for sure,” says Theron. She hopes that Wonder Woman’s success and that of Atomic Blonde will help move the needle in getting more female-driven movies made and more movies from female directors.
Theron also addressed the issue of the gender pay gap in Hollywood, saying that she put her foot down with The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016), where she demanded to have the same pay as Hemsworth.
She acknowledged that she is in a unique position where she can pick and choose roles and that not all actresses have that luxury. “With social media, we need to keep this conversation going,” says Theron.