The one movie that makes Charlize Theron cry
It feels like the South African-American actor Charlize Theron has always been in and around the modern movie industry, though her rise to prominence has been more patchy than expected. Taking a number of minor movie roles in the late 1990s, including the thriller The Devil’s Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino, and The Cider House Rules with Tobey Maguire and Michael Caine, true success for Theron wouldn’t come until the dawn of the new millennium.
Sure, Theron was embedded in Hollywood by 2000, but her status at the time was very much as a supporting actor, appearing alongside Robert De Niro in Men of Honour, Kevin Bacon in Trapped and Mark Wahlberg in The Italian Job, never quite managing to lead a movie. This all changed in 2003 when she starred in the Patty Jenkins crime drama Monster, winning an Oscar for portraying the real-life murderer Aileen, a Daytona Beach sex worker who became a serial killer.
From this moment onwards, starring roles were offered to Theron in abundance, appearing in the Oscar-nominated drama North Country directed by Niki Caro whilst becoming a Hollywood action star in the adaptation of the 1991 animation Æon Flux, a sci-fi flick that follows a mysterious assassin and her attempt to overthrow the government. The actor’s career had switched on a dime, suddenly becoming the industry’s greatest rising star.
Ever since, Theron has been a staple of the industry, collaborating with the likes of Jason Reitman, Ridley Scott, George Miller, Justin Lin and Saim Raimi in everything from independent comedies to big-budget action flicks.
These collaborations have led Theron to become a favourite of movie lovers across the globe, appearing in a video with W Magazine to discuss several intriguing fan questions. One such question was, “what was the last movie that made you cry?” to which Theron responded: “It’s all hard for me to cry. I mean, I cry from laughter. The last film that I saw that did that to me was 50/50”.
Beloved by fans and critics at the time of its release in 2011, the Jonathan Levine-directed movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man who discovers he has cancer and who fights his way to recovery with thanks to his close friends. Nominated for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Critics Choice Awards in 2012, the film was celebrated for its touching approach to the tricky subject matter and its hilarious comedy moments.
Elaborating on her passion for emotional movies, Theron adds: “I love movies that can kind of like catch you off-guard, and you’re emotionally crying and then they just kind of sucker punch you and you’re like snotty laughing crying. I love those cries. Those are my favourite cries like, but yeah I’m a bit of a sap for sure, I’d be the first one to admit it”.
