USA TODAY International Edition
Theron offers flip side of motherhood
‘Tully’ shines a light on the ‘horror movie’ factor
Every mom needs an escape.
For Marlo (Charlize Theron), the frazzled mother of three in Tully (in theaters Friday), it’s reruns of the male-escort reality show Gigolos. Theron shares a similar affinity for trash TV with her friend, screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno), both parents to young kids.
“I love reality television. I find that sometimes it’s a really good acting teacher, just observing people,” Theron says. “I go back and forth with all the (Real) Housewives. I really like Sister Wives — Diablo and I have a real connection on that show. Every time we see each other, we’re like, ‘Oh, my God, did you see Janelle at the wedding?’ ”
Tully reunites the pair with Young Adult director Jason Reitman for a story about a married middle-class mom at the end of her rope after the birth of a newborn: feeling incompetent, lethargic and undersexed as she tends to spilled breast milk and toddler tantrums. But her life changes when her wealthy brother (Mark Duplass) gifts her a night nanny, Tully (Mackenzie Davis), who comes in the wee hours to help with the baby and household chores and ultimately helps Marlo feel more like herself.
Cody, 39, wrote the film shortly after the arrival of her third child as a sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy, imagining what it’d be like to have “somebody just come along and relieve all those burdens,” she says. While she had seen many depictions of the “control-freak mom” in movies and TV, she wanted to explore “the other side of that coin, which is a mom who is so distracted and underwater that she accidentally bangs the baby’s car seat into the wall or drops her phone on the baby while she’s changing her diaper.”
Theron, 42, read the script when son Jackson, now 6, was 4, and daughter August, 2, was just 6 months old. “She had just moved out of my room and was sleeping through the night on her own, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is amazing,’ ” the actress says.
Although she adopted both kids and raises them as a single mom, she could relate to Marlo’s initial reluctance to get a nanny for fear of being labeled a “bad parent.”
When it was only Jackson, “it was allconsuming, but it was fine — I could really sacrifice my entire life just for this baby,” Theron says. But when August arrived, “you’re doing the same thing, and on top of that, you have to be a real person to this (other) little human who can talk and is expecting things from you. There were moments when that was just too hard and I couldn’t do it.”
Cody felt similarly insecure after she became a mother: “I am a (lousy) cook; I’m not good at the day-to-day domestic work of parenting,” she says. “I’ve definitely felt like less of a woman for needing help with those things.”
With Tully, she wanted to rail against “this highly curated Instagram world of ‘Which mom looks best in her bikini two hours after giving birth?’ I hate that that’s happened — everyone’s life looks cute when you throw a filter on it. So I’m taking this as an opportunity to show another side of things.”
To play Marlo, Theron consulted with a close friend who struggled with postpartum depression. (The movie’s twist has angered some maternal mental health experts for perpetuating stigmas about postpartum disorders.)
The actress also put on nearly 50 pounds to realistically capture Marlo’s
post-pregnancy body, which proved more physically and emotionally taxing than when she gained 30 for her Oscarwinning role in 2003’s Monster. After a three-month junk-food diet of In-N-Out burgers and mac and cheese, Theron says, she experienced depression for the first time.
“It was really brutal,” Theron says. “I like having that moment at the end of the day (of shooting) when you change in your trailer, get in your car, go home and you’re you. But I couldn’t do it on this, and it really got to me. I couldn’t leave this character because my body was just dictating where my mind was and how my moods were.”
She eventually lost the weight over a year and a half, which made her empathetic to moms who struggle to get back in shape, particularly as they get older.
“I know a lot of moms who feel like (crap) because it takes that long and everybody’s expecting them to be back,” Theron says. “Me gaining weight for the movie — it’s hard when somebody’s like, ‘Wow, that’s really brave!’ Moms do this all the time and we don’t call them brave. We’re like, ‘Why are you still carrying that baby weight?’ ”
Coming off a jam-packed year of movies including Atomic Blonde, Gringo and The Fate of the Furious, Theron gives credit to her own mother, Gerda Maritz, who lives up the street and regularly steps in as co-parent. Maritz has also informed Theron’s own mommy mantra: “Tomorrow’s a new day.”
On a recent family road trip, “the kids were just losing it in the back seat,” Theron recalls. “At one point, I just lost it and my mom started giggling. She had tears in her eyes, like, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s fine.’ (Stuff) like that is what helps you get through all of this. At the end of the day, it’s so funny, but when you’re in it, it’s a horror movie.”
“Everyone’s life looks cute when you throw a filter on it. So I’m taking this as an opportunity to show another side of things.” Diablo Cody “Tully” screenwriter