Blonde AMBITION
Frustrated movie star Charlize battles sexism on and off the screen
ACTRESS Charlize Theron got into shape for her latest action role by training with former co-star Keanu Reeves.
It’s 20 years since the star of blistering action thriller Atomic Blonde made her big screen breakthrough alongside Reeves in The Devil’s Advocate.
And knowing that he was working all out to get ready for his own high-octane role in John Wick: Chapter 2, it was a no-brainer for the 42-year-old to join him in the gym.
She told Empire magazine: “Seeing how committed he was to getting things right and nailing all his moves brought out my competitive side and made me work even harder.
“There was no way I was going to let John Wick show me up.”
Theron most definitely doesn’t. In Atomic Blonde, she plays Lorraine Broughton, a secret agent who’s as glamorous as she is deadly.
Sent alone into Berlin on the eve of the wall being dismantled in 1989, she’s given the task of tracking down an espionage ring who’ve killed an Allied undercover agent, as well as locating a priceless dossier of double agents. She’s obliged to cooperate with charming yet conniving station chief David Percival (James McAvoy), under the wary eye of MI6 investigator Eric Gray (Toby Jones) and CIA operative Emmett Kurzfeld ( John Goodman).
Broughton also finds herself tailed by French intelligence agent Delphine Lasalle (Sofia Boutella), who takes a personal interest in her that intensifies into a torrid affair.
“Broughton is an expert in espionage and evasion, weapons and hand-to-hand combat. When London sends her somewhere, it’s to be ‘the final word’ on the matter,” said South African-born Theron, who lives in Los Angeles with her two adopted children.
“She’s utterly professional and devastatingly destructive, yet she also carries with her the history of a career in which dirty hands are not easily cleansed.”
The movie is directed by man-of-themoment David Leitch, who co-directed Reeves in John Wick and is working with Ryan Reynolds on Deadpool 2.
The former stuntman, who’s doubled
for Matt Damon and Brad Pitt in the past, said: “Broughton is a terrifically complex character and through her, this story offers a very modern take on the spy genre.
“As a spy, she possesses ruthless resolve and discipline but also tendencies and traits that most of us would find hard to understand.
“She’s cool and stylish, maintaining a certain emotional detachment necessary for her deadly job but there is a caring and pained humanity operating underneath the surface that bleeds through.”
Theron’s not only the star of the show – she is the person responsible for bringing the movie to the big screen in the first place.
Exasperated by the lack of complex leading roles for women in Hollywood, the actress founded her own production company, Denver And Delilah Productions.
They promptly snapped up the rights to the 2012 graphic novel series The Coldest City, written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Sam Hart, on which Atomic Blonde is based. Of the film’s time period and location, Theron said: “It was a wild west atmosphere. You had the Soviet KGB and the East German Stasi against the American CIA, British MI6 and French DGSE. Graft, bribery, blackmail, violence – this was the daily diet for those agents at that time.”
Theron is known for her blistering performances in a host of top movies, including Monster, which earned her an Oscar in 2004, and Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015.
Theron delivers again in Atomic Blonde – on both sides of the camera.
Co-producer Kelly McCormick said: “What everyone found is that there is no ego involved in Charlize’s producing.
“She’s highly disciplined, hard working and likes to problem-solve together. She made the experience that much more special for everyone.” Bar a few scenes depicting famous Berlin landmarks, the majority of the movie was shot in Budapest, as it retains what production designer David Scheunemann calls “the same textures” as Berlin during this period.
He said: “Budapest has stunning old abandoned buildings, which have marvellously decrepit exteriors and crumbling interiors that make perfect backdrops.”
The film’s stylised look is unique but it’s the stunts that had everyone talking.
Stunt director Sam Hargrave claims Broughton’s fighting style is “a John McClane complex – she’ll walk over broken glass to do what it takes to win”.
Everyone involved wanted the action sequences to feel visceral so audiences would feel every head slammed and every bone crunched.
It was during pre-production that Leitch constructed the 12-minute, one-camera fight sequence in which Broughton systematically takes out her would-be killers. Although stunt double Monique Ganderton was on standby, every single shot of Broughton in this scene is Theron and she had the bruises to prove it. In preparation, the actress, who trained to be a ballet dancer in her formative years, worked in the gym up to five hours a day for three months, as well as memorising intricate choreography. The scene itself was shot over three days, with a particular move requiring the actress to slam a stunt performer on to a wooden table – which was one of many items destroyed during the confrontation. Take after take ensued until only “kindling” was left, Theron said. She added: “So David said, ‘We gotta nail it this time’. And we did.” The same could be said for the final cut. John Wick better watch out, there’s a new secret agent in town. ● Atomic Blonde is out today.
She’s utterly professional and devastatingly destructive
CHARLIZE THERON