Comic-Con@Home: How 'Mad Max: Fury Road' changed superstar Charlize Theron's career trajectory

Talking to moderator Terri Schwartz, Theron thought the mixed response to her other film, 'Aeon Flux' thwarted action-role opportunities, but Fury Road's success changed it all
PUBLISHED JUL 24, 2020
Charlize Theron (Getty Images)
Charlize Theron (Getty Images)

Day 3 of the Comic-Con@Home saw some valuable insights from Charlize Theron. The actress now basking in the success of Netflix's superhero flick, 'The Old Guard' spoke about how 'Mad Max: Fury Road' changed the course of her career trajectory. 

Talking to panel moderator at the San Diego Comic-Con convention(SDCC) virtually, Terri Schwartz, Theron thought the mixed response to her other film, 'Aeon Flux' thwarted the opportunities of her landing an action role in future films. However, when the reboot of 'Mad Max' came calling in the form of 'Fury Road', it was a new beginning again. She also spoke about the concept of active women in Hollywood. "This concept that women have to fight like men is so ridiculous." 

She also added: "When we celebrate women fighting as women...we can fight just as hard with our elbows and with our knees..there is no ONE way". For Theron, 'Mad Max' was a rather unique experience and it was instrumental in shaping her career as an action woman in the film circuit. She broke down filming the cult reboot. "When a filmmaker can listen to the narrative - Mad Max is a 3-day car chase - so the filming needed to feel real. Very little wirework and a lot of physically moving and lifting," she added.

In addition, Theron also added about what attracts her to action roles. "In general, I’m intrigued by the messiness of being a human, especially a woman.' Theron fans will also remember her as Cipher in 'The Fate of the Furious, where she plays a slick cyber-terrorist, However, it was 'Fury Road' that saw her garner critical acclaim. Working alongside Tom Hardy, the movie went on to become a box office success. Her recent outing, 'The Old Guard' has seen massive success as well.

In two weeks since its opening, 'The Old Guard' has fast risen to become one of Netflix's most popular films ever, approaching views 72 million households across the world. The movie, which stars Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Harry Melling, is based on a comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. It centers around a group of immortal beings who work in the shadows to try and make the world a better place but they were targeted by a large pharmaceutical company that sought the secrets to their immortality.

With the evolution of this sort, we can be assured Theron's not done playing the badass in action films. 'The Old Guard' is streaming on Netflix. 

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