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Topics: Film and TV
Jess Hardiman
Charlize Theron has opened up about one of her films that she knew was going to be a ‘f**king flop’ from the beginning.
Theron won an Oscar for her turn as serial killer Aileen Wournos in 2003 drama Monster, following that up with another nomination for North Country two years later.
2005 was also a big year for the actor as she took on a recurring role in the hugely popular sitcom Arrested Development, starring alongside Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth’s girlfriend Rita – a gig that many probably weren’t expecting, but certainly lapped up.
However, it turns out there was a reason for her appearance in Mitchell Hurwitz’s comedy series, as it was actually to make up for another project that year that she knew would be a flop.
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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Theron said arriving on the set of Arrested Development was something she found daunting.
“It was one of the scariest things, to walk onto a set of a show that’s so developed and so brilliant,” she said.
“But I think I needed that, to put myself out there in a different way, because people thought of me as someone who was f**king depressing, like my mother shot my father.”
When Theron was just 15, her father came home and drunk and threatened to shoot her and her mum. Her mother ended up killing him in what was eventually determined as an act of self-defence.
Theron continued: “And I just f**king loved that show, and this is going to sound so ‘poor me,’ but I do feel like sometimes, as women, we get one shot and I knew that [the 2005 action flick] Aeon Flux was going to be a f**king flop.
“I knew it from the beginning, that’s why I did Arrested Development.”
Aeon Flux is a sci-fi action flick based on the MTV series of the same name, which grossed just $52.3 million against its estimated $62 million production budget, and was also panned by critics.
Theron stars as the titular warrior, who is a member of an underground rebel organisation called the Monicans.
She continued: "With that one, I don’t know if I had the answers for how to [fix it], but I definitely knew we were in trouble.
“I wasn’t a producer on it, and I didn’t really have the experience to say what I believe Tom Cruise has maybe said for the past 20 years, which is, ‘Shut this s**t down, get four more writers on it and let’s figure this out.’
“Instead, I’m going, ‘Oh God, I’ve just got to get through this day, I have bronchitis, but let’s keep shooting.’ Now I imagine all these male actors going, ‘Shut it down for six months!’
“And it’s like, f**k, no one told me that was an option.”