Charlize Theron was “kicked off” an Oscar-winning movie: “I’m fully envious”
Hollywood can be cruel. The competitiveness and unpredictability of the industry mean that even when you’ve been cast in a role, you can’t always rest easy in the knowledge that you’re going to be the actor who ends up in the final cut of the film.
Many actors find themselves fired mid-way through filming or before shooting even gets underway, leaving them bitterly disappointed. This was the case for Charlize Theron, who had to watch another actor earn an Oscar nomination for the role she was initially going to play.
You have to get used to this kind of thing happening if you want to succeed in the industry, although that doesn’t mean it’s not still a shock to the system. For Theron, an instance of being “kicked off” a film she really wanted to be in occurred before she had truly established herself in Hollywood. Little did she know that in a year’s time, she’d be an Oscar winner herself.
Theron, who began acting in the 1990s following an injury that prevented her from fulfilling her dreams of being a dancer, started her career with a series of supporting roles in movies like The Devil’s Advocate, The Cider House Rules, and The Italian Job. Thus, when she was offered the part of Roxie Hart in Chicago, a darkly comic musical about two women who fight for fame while awaiting trial, Theron was quick to accept.
Adapted from the musical first performed in 1975, Chicago would go on to be a hit, but unfortunately for Theron, she wouldn’t be the one playing Roxie after all. She told Howard Stern, “For a while, I was attached to Chicago. I got kicked off it. Yeah, the director kicked me off it.” An unnamed director was initially attached to the project alongside Theron, but when they left, Rob Marshall came in, subsequently finding a different actor for the leading part.
Marshall made his directorial debut with the film, and instead of Theron, he wanted Renée Zellweger. The actor, who had just starred in Bridget Jones’s Diary to significant acclaim, successfully took on the part of Roxie, and while Theron was impressed, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad about the whole ordeal.
“She did an amazing job. So yeah, I’m fully envious of what she did,” she said. “Here’s the thing, though — I do understand. I totally get it. Still, I felt it a little bit.”
Theron hardly had to worry about missing out on her potential big breakthrough, however. While Chicago might’ve won ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars, the next year, Theron took on the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the movie Monster alongside Christina Ricci, which earned her a ‘Best Actress’ Academy Award.
Everything worked out for the actor, whose performance as Wuornos saw her transform into an utterly unrecognisable figure and subsequently kicked off the start of a very successful career. Still, she wishes it could’ve been her battling it out alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago, singing about her rise from being a housewife to a vaudeville star and murderess.
