DAVID

interview| CHARLIZE THERON
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Charlize Theron as
Joleen in Sleepwalking
Directed by first-timer Bill Maher (not the political comic)
from a script by Zac Stanford, Sleepwalking casts Theron as
restless single mother Joleen who, along with her 11-year-old
daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb), moves in with her brother
James (Nick Stahl) after her boyfriend is arrested and she’s
forced out of her home. But soon after moving in, Joleen meets
a new man and walks out on James, leaving Tara in his care.
Theron says the role intrigued her not as a star vehicle (her part
is not huge), but more as something she just had to see get made.
“[Screen time] was never a concern of mine,” she says. “I
think this story is really well-constructed, in that you really
feel the entire lives of all of these people. The little girl, who is
obviously one of the leads in this film, really carries a lot of the
circumstances of living with this mom. I think you learn a lot
about her mom through watching her.
“As an actor, I feel like it’s not about you,” Theron adds. “It’s
always in servicing the story. There are so many great performances
that you can look up, but just off the bat, Hal Holbrook in
Into the Wild is something that has stayed with me ’til today, and
I saw the movie eight months ago. Y’know, I never went, ‘What
happens to him and where is his development?’ He serviced that
famous 42 | march 2008
Bill Maher directs Theron
“Though I’m never looking for anything specific,
I do know that I get excited when I find something
that has a little bit of ugly truth to it,” says Theron
story so unbelievably beautifully, and I think that that’s what you
do. You never look at the size…. To me, it’s more about how
does it all come together. I think that’s why I’m a producer.”
Sleepwalking is the second feature film Theron has both starred
in and produced. Her first was Monster, and she learned then
that not only was producing fulfilling; it could be a sanity-saver.
“It’s a mixture of a few things,” Theron explains. “I’m very
passionate about filmmaking, and for me that’s been through
being an actor and a producer; for others it’s through writing
and directing. But there’s something really creative and amazing
that happens when I do produce. And I do think that producing
actually is a positive thing for me when I’m acting. You know, as
an actor, you spend a lot of time alone in your trailer. I’m sure
for some people that’s a good thing. But I learned on Monster
that it would have destroyed me, personally, if I had to live in a
trailer by myself while playing that. I would have gone stir crazy.”
Theron also backed the music documentary East of Havana,
and has an executive producer credit on the film she’s currently
shooting, The Burning Plain.
Sometimes, though, it can be rewarding in an entirely different
way just to act. Like when it shows you a whole new side
Nick Stahl and AnnaSophia Robb
deal with their situation
of someone you know very well. Theron’s real-life love interest,
actor Stuart Townsend, makes his directorial debut with the
politically charged drama Battle in Seattle later this spring, and
she plays a key role.
“Working with him was amazing,” Theron says in the straightforward,
matter-of-fact way she speaks on most topics; in other
words, not sounding too gushy. “I think people want to hear the
little tagline or the funny thing because he’s my boyfriend. But
at the end of the day, I was incredibly impressed. I showed up as
an actress and he was the director and, other than once in a
while slipping up and calling him his nickname in front of his
crew, it was very much a working relationship. And I really,
truly believe that he has incredible talents as a director.”
And no, Theron is not about to share that pet name.
She is happy to point out that her apparently rarefied taste
and preference for serious subject matter should in no waybe
interpreted as snobbishness.
“I want to make good movies,” she acknowledges. “I want to
make great movies. I want to make movies that make people feel
something when they leave the theatre, and that ask a lot of
questions.
“But I’m committed to all kinds of film,” Theron adds. “I’m
in Hancock; if I read something I like, it’s not genre-driven or
anything for me. I thought it was a really well-written piece that
wasn’t just fluff. There was a real intelligence to it, yet it was fun.
It’s smart, complicated, had a lot of conflict. I don’t see a lot of
that come Fourth of July [Hancock’s scheduled release date].”
And while that action pic looks like the kind of surefire hit
famous 43 | march 2008
even the most respected award winners like to add to their
résumés, Theron sees no upside to thinking along those lines.
“Y’know, there is no recipe in this industry,” she observes.
“You can ask the biggest stars that — Will Smith, Tom Hanks,
Tom Cruise — there’s no recipe to knowing what’s going to
work. If you’re going to sit around and try to figure that out,
good luck to you. At the end of the day everybody has their
priorities. My priority is just to do stuff that somehow gets into
my bones. There’s no way of really explaining it. It’s just something
that you feel and it happens and not for one second do I
ever go, ‘Well, let me see; will this be a commercial success?’”
Bob Strauss is an L.A.-based entertainment writer.
COLD COMFORT
Although Sleepwalking takes place first in Northern California,
and then in Utah, what you’re seeing on the screen is all
Regina, Saskatchewan.
The largely California-based cast and crew braved blizzards
and temperatures of -37 Celsius in order to make the most of their
limited budget by shooting here.
According to director Bill Maher, there was one more famous
Canadian element they had to brave — ribbing from local crew
members who had little sympathy for their warm-blooded
counterparts. —MW