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"RE-RELEASE: Charlize Theron"

55m 45s

"RE-RELEASE: Charlize Theron"

The conversation begins with the hosts of SmartLess chatting informally about recent events, such as a family birthday party, and debating fashion choices like wearing sneakers with suits and the significance of fun socks. They then introduce guest Charlize Theron, who discusses her upbringing in South Africa, where she didn’t speak English until she was 19, learning it primarily from British ballet teachers. She explains her initial passion for ballet and storytelling, which led her to pursue acting after an injury. Theron recounts moving to Los Angeles with no plan, staying in a budget motel, and being discovered by a manager at a bank. She reflects on her natural affinity for acting, viewing it as an escape, and highlights the importance of mentorship from industry professionals like directors and writers early in her career. The dialogue blends humor, personal stories, and insights into Theron’s journey from South Africa to Hollywood success.

Transcription

10939 Words, 55671 Characters

English
(upbeat music) Hey guys, okay, I'm doing an intro right now for SmartLess and I just got back from the market. I just bought a bunch of tapioca. I got nothing except a brand new fresh out of the other episode of SmartLess for you guys. And a couple of more ons to help me with it. Stay tuned, here it comes. SmartLess. SmartLess. (upbeat music) Hey, how was the golf vacation? I was your golf trip. It was good. It was really, really good. You really missed one there, aren't it? And that's okay. That was working. I was working. You were busy providing? Why thought you guys went together? I couldn't go. I had to walk. I tried, I tried. I was with your wife last night, Jason. Sorry? I hung out with your wife last night. There we go. And your daughter who I love. Yeah, she's pretty great. My, so that was a 10-year-old. That's Maple. The 15-year-old Franny had her sweet 16 this weekend. I know, I love that. No kidding. She did. And it was-- Is it a boyfriend back? Were you back for it? I came back just in time to drive to where she was having it, to kick them all out and lock up. And it was great. I was ready to see things that I wasn't ready to see. And I didn't see anything that I was worried about. I mean, there was like bowls of chips and Oreo cookies laid out on trays. OK, you weren't like sweeping up vape cartridges. Exactly, obviously didn't find any. But just sweeping up Oreo cookies and stuff. And where was the party? Was it at Shawn's house? There were a lot of cheetos and cookies and pieces. It sounds like my 51st. Yeah, you know, perfect. Shawn, what was the last big party you threw, Shawn? For myself or just in general? For yourself. I don't know, years and years and years ago. Why don't you treat yourself? Why don't you guys come to that? Remember that poker party that I had? I don't. I did. Oh my god, Shawn, that was 2004. Yeah. I'm not kidding. I know that's all of 2004 in your backyard. I was there. Can you remember the year? You know, we used to play a lot of poker, Will. Why don't we start playing poker again? We talked about it. We've been threatening. I guess we could do it over here in my house. Why don't we just do it? It'd be fun. Hey, I texted Will yesterday if I could wear these shoes with the suit pants. Now, are you wearing them on the flight, too? Yeah. What do you mean, flight? What do you mean suit pants? Oh, right. You're taking off today. He's going to an event. Yeah. Why are you wearing suit pants? And who says suit pants? Aren't they called slacks? Who says slacks? Who says fucking suit pants, bro? Here we go, guys. Here we are. Suit pants versus slacks. We'll be right back. Let's go back to the socks. Get back up and let's question the socks. Yeah. Aren't there like little faces on that? Yeah. What are you doing? What is that? You're just checkers. Are they fun? They're good on the earth. Do you like people? People who are like, I'm going to wear fun socks today. And I hope that people notice my fun socks and they go, oh, man, you must have a real sense of humor because I just noticed your socks is really shows that you've got a real sense of humor. I'm a lot of character. Wow. You got a lot of character. Where are you going, Sean? Going to an event tonight, an award ceremony in Chicago for theater. Uh-huh. It is the event, the events tonight, Sean. The events tonight. Yeah. Wait, what time do you lay? Are you nominated or are you presenting? I'm nominated in Good Night Oscar. The show is nominated and Emily Bergle plays. My wife is nominated and the writer is nominated to a great and Lisa Peterson who directed is nominated. Amazing. Are you not nominated? And no, I am nominated. Oh, my gosh. Such an honor. Are you also presenting? No. What time do you get in? You're leaving. And I have to go straight there. Okay. Well, this feels like poor planning. Do you have an acceptance speech written? I mean, just in case I have ideas of just who you want to thank, I want you to be. I saw it. Look, Sean showed me a copy of his acceptance speech and he actually crossed out Scotty. He crossed the heat and then he crossed it out. Did you guys get in a fight last night? A little bit. No. Wait, I want to go back to the socks for two seconds. I'm not talking about the Scotty fight. No. I want to go back to the pearl and Oreo at him. No, no, no. I think the socks thing is because we don't as guys don't get a lot of, and as far as fashion goes, a lot of room to play with, like, it's always just the suit. Opportunities for high. You know what I mean with clothes. I don't even say it's always just a hoodie, but do you have another hoodie on? Yeah. I do like to accessorize a little bit every once in a while. I don't have the moves that Will does because you're not afraid of a scar for something like that. Are you Will or Cervat? No. Cervat. Yeah. What is Cervat? Ask God, I guess. I don't know. You know, I get, I see the way he was so, like, trying to have patients with us Philistines that don't know. Well, what can I do? I mean, you know, I get roasted for it if I just, you know, just for my common parlance. That's why I texted you because at a three of us, you probably dressed the best. You really do. Thank you very much. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. Yeah. And I did say to you, yes, I mean, I think that those shoes are okay. Yes. I said, give me the context where it is. And he said, it's this thing. It's not a big deal. And it's in Chicago. And I said, then it's fine. Yeah. That's a big deal. You heard of Chicago. And it's good. Yeah. What's in Chicago? Yes, fine. Yeah. So they're tennis shoes though. I'm just kidding. All my friends in Chicago. It should be noted. Love Chicago. We had a great time in Chicago. Three of us did. We did. And we love it. So the suit or what do you look at the full outfit right now? Is the hoodie part of the. No, no, the hoodie is just for the airplane. But what do you, what is your opinion, Jason, about, like, gym shoes with a suit as opposed to like dress shoes? Those aren't gym shoes. You think they're not? Yeah, they're saying gym shoes and suit pants. They're like, you know, they're, they're on the two bar. What do you call us? What do you call it? You give like rich guys a prop. Sorry. We'll be right with you, yes. Those are like adult contemporary, those, I call those adult contemporary shoes. I'm a rich guy with a yacht. Yeah. No, I'm a finance guy and I'm trying to be cool. And so my, my wife got me some Tom Ford sneakers. Yeah. And look on him. I don't have time to think about it. I'm worried about numbers all the time. And then I'm wearing jeans and I'm wearing these kind of sneakers kind of thing. And it's like, hey, listen, I'm wearing the suit jacket, but then I'm jeans under the desk and I got these fucking cool sneaks. Okay. Just fucking do it or don't. All right. Let's get back to. I'm so mad about you. Jason, Jason gets it. You know I'm not mad. I just get weird. I know you're not mad. I know you're, you're about to get real pleased. Today we have a guest that is all thing. She's an actor. She's a producer. She's a mom, a model, an Academy Award winner, a United Nations messenger of peace and a friend of ours. She's been in 50 films, but is younger than all of us. Let's find out how she gets it all done today on Smart List. Shall we gang? Welcome to one and only Charlize Theron. Oh my God. Hi Charlize. Hi Charlize. Hi Charlize. Hi Charlize. She's got a cute haircut and a cute sweater on. Cute haircut. I do. It's a grow out. I don't think it's a haircut. It's a grow out. It's a grow out. Yeah. It's a grow out. And it's dark. Listener. It looks real good. Yeah. It's super cute. Have I ever seen you dark? I think so. Yeah. Whatever you want. I mean, I'm not that picky about it. Oh, she just put right back into your court, baby. Yes, she did. She's got a sweater on that I think I wore in '84. She wears it real well. Thank you. Let's bring those back. Yes. What about socks? Charlize, are you a socks? Let me see. Here she goes. Oh, socks. Yeah. Nothing. No socks. No shoes. But you got a couple tats on there. No socks. Sean. Quick eye there. You noticed, huh? Yeah. Fast and fast. How many tattoos do we have today? I have two. I'm proud to say. You have a tramp stamp? That's amazing. Yeah. It's right on the small way back. It just says breathe. Yeah. What is it? Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. So it's, so it's working. So it's like a PSA for whoever you're with. Uh, who, uh, Sean will any tattoos from you to kill Joe? That's hysterical. Sure. Sean's laughing because it's an idea. Right. All tattoos. Right. No tattoos from Will. Sean. No, I've always wanted to get one. When I was young, I wanted to get one on my bicep. My what? My bicep. And then what happened? It went away. So you had no place to put it. Um, I wanted to get windowed. Maybe one of those when you're waving, it speaks. It's like, uh, that's what's happening to me now at 53. I'd like, I don't like to show my tattoos. Because, because both are on the, it's my girl's names on the inside of my arm there. I didn't notice how I don't say bicep. And then when I show it to somebody, when they ask. And then that little bottom part of the arm just starts to wave at them. It's not good. I have my girl's middle names on my arm too. Do you? Oh, that's cute. And charcoal gray right here. On your, but on your forearm. On my forearm. Yes. Let me ask you actors with tattoos. Do you have to go through makeup when you're doing a movie to get, like, is it a pain in the ass? Do you have to get a cover up? I did for the first year of, uh, of Ozark. And then, uh, I said enough. Uh, let's just say my guys got tattoos. Who cares? What about you, Shirley? I, I did this in charcoal gray. So it doesn't really photograph. It's super light. Um, and so it doesn't, you don't really, you don't pick it up. And I have found as a producer that when they're light like this, it's easy to take them out in the DI. I don't have to put a ton of makeup. It's almost easier to just leave it alone if it's a light tattoo. Right. But there's also a thing that I think it started with Mike Tyson and, uh, and, uh, hang over three, right? Where, uh, you have to get the approval or the sign off of the person who does the tattoo. Oh, the artist. The artist. Yeah. Or they can see you later for, like, showing a painting that you haven't bought the license for or something like that. Yeah, really? Yeah. Like playing a song. You got to pay for it. I remember when shit was free. Yeah. Right. Just remember when people didn't stress about shit that was stupid. Um, yeah. I do. Oh, I didn't know that we're all drinking. Sorry. Sorry, gang. All right. It's nice to see you guys, by the way. It's been a long time. Yeah. So many, many years. Many years. I saw you. When she was on a rest of development, Sean, what was your favorite memory when she was on a rest of development? What was your favorite? Yeah. It's one of my favorite episodes when she came in and he's never seen arrested Charlie. It's a point of contention. She played a character named Rita. Rita. Who was? Was she? Charlie's were you. I bet you don't even remember either. I don't. You were a spy. I. Or we thought you were. You thought you were a spy. You thought I was a spy. Yes. Because I had a very interesting British accent. I sounded very smart. Did you have a growing up in South Africa? Did you have an accent as a kid and got rid of it or what happened? Oh, yeah. No. I mean, I didn't speak English until I was like 19. Really? I grew up in an area. Yes. That's right. That's fucking terrible. Wait. Come on, Brue. Come on, Brue. Come on, Brue. Oh, yeah, Brue. I know it's a very difficult accent, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. I didn't speak it. So I had it as a second language, but nobody in my neighborhood spoke English. But I went to ballet. And there was the Royal Academy of London. And so we had these teachers from London. And they couldn't speak opposite. That was the only English I ever really heard was these two Brits yelling at us. Oh, that's so cool. And I would do exams, not even knowing I was doing exams, because I'd understand what they were saying. So when I came here at 19, it was really kind of like learning the language. And that's why it was easy for me to drop the accent, because I was really learning English from scratch. I think English-speaking South Africans have a harder time, because it's an ingrained accent that they're trying to break. I didn't have that. So Africans is a completely different language. It's not a, it's not a, yeah, severity of accent. Yeah. This is new information for you. Wow. It is a combination. There's about 44 people still speaking it. It's definitely a dying language. It's not a very helpful language. Do we know what it is a combination of? Do. Yeah, Dutch. I mean, we, yeah. So we had pretty much all of Europe try to come in and take over. So, but the Dutch language is predominantly what it's based on. And then there's some German in there. And then we've bastardized it. So if I, I understand Dutch, but when I speak of recon, the Dutch person will be like very hoity-toity about it. And they'll be like, I don't know what you're saying, because we've kind of bastardized it. We flattened it out a little bit. They might even say that's a terrible, terrible accent, like you said to me. Wait. I'm an idiot. Did you, did you ever play a part where you had to do a South African accent? I did, yeah. You did, yeah. Yeah. Probably super famous movie, and I'm a dumb dumb. No, it's not actually. So, yeah, it was a film called The Last Face. Uh-huh. Okay. Because I could talk to you for nine hours about Alien Prometheus right now, but because it's one of my favorite movies. I love that. Thank you, Scotty. Scotty's creeping in in the background. It did look like the door was open. Oh, it's the dog. It's the dog. If it was Scotty on all fours, just come and do this. All right. Well, okay. So then you said you came here at 19. Charlize, let's go back. Um, so we're in South Africa. We decide to go to, now ballet was not first, was it modeling in Milan? Well, I started dancing when I was really young, and then I went to an art school for dance. And that's really what I wanted to do with my life. I just, I fell in love with dance. And I mean, really what I fell in love with was storytelling, but I didn't know it then. Because technically, I was never the strongest dancer, but when I was one, like, I would fucking die on the stage. And so I always got work because I, I could stop nodding, Sean. Okay, sorry. I mean, he's eagerly nodding. But yeah, that's what I wanted. That's what I wanted to do with my life until I kind of couldn't and had to kind of rethink my life. And my mom was the one that pointed out that it was maybe more the storytelling aspect of it that I loved than the dance. And so she was the one that kind of put it together that maybe I should go and try acting, which was like the most stupid, ignorant, like, we knew nothing. Nothing about how you would even go about to be an actor. So how did you? A one way ticket to Hollywood. Oh, really? It literally bought me a one way ticket to Los Angeles. And I got off the plane and I had nowhere to stay. I mean, I just had no plan. I stayed at the farmer's daughter because the cab dropped me off. I'm Fairfax. Yeah, and now it's cute back then it was like a by the hour. I bought a bottle of bleach right across from the Vans and started cleaning that bathroom. And I stayed there for like six months. I stayed there for an hour once. Hey, oh, now did you take acting classes right away? Not right away. I had a very strange experience where kind of like the Lana Turner, you know, soda fountain story where I was at a bank trying to cash a check from New York, which was an out-of-state check, and I couldn't cash it. And this guy was trying to help me cash it. And he ended up being a manager. And, and he, he signed me on, which is just weird, because I could barely speak English. And that tells you everything about how we find our actors these days. But anyway, he, he told me about an acting class. And I started going there like once what I could afford, which was like once a week at that time. And that was helpful because I knew nothing about acting. I, I knew nothing. I didn't even know who actors were. Like I love Tom Hanks movies without knowing his name was Tom Hanks. Well, God, there's so much in there. How long was he your manager this guy? He was my manager for about four years. One. You're so lucky you found the actual manager that says, hey, young lady, I'm a manager. Like you, you found a real one. Yeah. I mean, in my office isn't, is it my van? Yeah. Everybody said that. They were like, this guy, this is what happens to everybody. Like you're going to end up in a ditch. And then somebody actually knew him who was in my car. His card was in my car for like months. And they said, yeah, he represents John Hurt. And I was like, well, that's a real actor. So I called him. Wow. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. Now, when you, so when you started going to these acting classes and you didn't really know what acting was, you said was. Your, your experience with it and it's starting to become comfortable to you. Did you have the sense like, oh, well, they just kind of have a name for all these things that I'm just kind of naturally doing anyway. In other words, did you find a very natural approach to acting or were you studying sort of like the technique and like going kind of dot to dot about how to act? Or did it just kind of come naturally to you? Because you're so good at it and you never really see you acting. It seems like it's very natural for you. Oh, thanks, Jason. I think it was a natural ability. It's easy for me to escape. Like, I think I used it in my childhood. It was a way for me to survive. And it's where I've always found solace. And I think of it as this, you know, amazing opportunity that I get to go and do. Whatever it is at that time, material wise, that I just get to dive into completely. And I love that aspect of it. And that is easy for me. But I didn't know how to break a script down. And I didn't even know how to use script. And I didn't know about an arc necessarily, you know, so all of that stuff I had to learn. And that's what this class was really helpful for. Because they didn't just have actors, they had writers, they had directors. So I was around people and I could see kind of, you know, from a little bit higher in the ground. Did you have an early experience with an actor or a director on a job where you saw them with the actor may be breaking down their script or director sort of. Did anybody, was anybody a real helpful influence for you? Like actually at work as opposed to on a in a class. Oh, yeah, I mean, I think, yes, this class was helpful, but really ultimately I became a student as I was working. I mean, I think that's always the best way to work and I look at all of my experiences early on. I found great mentorship with producers and directors and writers and actors who really, you know, really just took me under my wing. I'm here because of the grace of a lot of those people and kindness of a lot of those people because I was so eager. And so, you know, I think they were entertained by me. Did you have a moment with one of them know where there was that you remember now that you kind of go back to and go that was a powerful moment. Somebody that I worked with director writer actor early on. Yeah, I mean, I worked with this writer director, John Hertzfeldt. It was my first film that I ever did and he and he was very kind, you know, he was very patient. I had to do a lot of stuff with with James Spader, who's lovely, but like he's a pro, you know, he like shows up. And he's ready to rock and roll. And I think I was, you know, 19 at the time. And there were moments where John really kind of like helped me, I think, get through a shoot that could have been tough because I was so inexperienced, you know. So I'm grateful to him always, but then I got to work with Tom Hanks right after that. And he was just fucking lovely because with him it was just all about the joy. He was just like lean into the joy, the joy, the joy. And then I also had like, you know, counter experiences, like I love Taylor Hackford. I did a film called Devil's Advocate with him with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. And that was a really big movie for me. And he loves, he really encourages method. And so everybody just, you don't really have a choice. Like that's just kind of like how he makes, I don't know now, but that was back then. Explain for like, for Tracy, the non, the non entertainment people, what method is? It's basically immersing yourself in the character in the world 24/7. And so you're never ever out of it. You stay in it, you, your director will call you by the character named. You just, you were kind of immersed in it the whole time. Those people are super fun to hang out with. Exactly. So I realized on that film that that was definitely not a process that was going to work for me. There was something so exhausting about it. My wife was miserable. I wasn't happy. And then of course, you worry because you're like, well, if I don't do that, then maybe I won't be as good as the Marlon Brando's and the Monty Cliffs. So you read all these biographies. Right. And then I did some work, non method. And I was actually really happy with the work. And I think you could pop in and out. For me, having the energy to be able to go a lot further in darker material is way more helpful than being exhausted. When I'm exhausted, I'm a little bit, I'm just retired. Like I almost like don't want to like go into the dark room. But I think when I, so I made it a real discipline. I think Dan's really helped me with this. I work. And I leave it behind and I come home and I pick up my dog shit and I love my kids and I make pasta and drink a beer and life is good. Well, you're so goddamn funny. I wish I wish you do more comedies. I'll bet, I'll bet it's, I bet they just don't come your way, right? I mean, is it, it's just a question of like them not sending you a bunch of comedic stuff? Are you talking about Sean? Yeah. Charlie's, we'll be with you in one second. Like, you know, there, it's like, well, maybe you wouldn't mind being immersed in. So, well, I guess it depends on what sort of community character it would be. But going method on a comedy would not be as painful I would, I would suppose. I think comedy is, you know, it's very much like a taste thing. Like I think you love, you love comedy because you find something funny. And I think that's where I struggle sometimes. Yeah, there's certain kinds of funny. Yeah, so like for me, the reason why, you know, I had just won the Academy Award for Monster. And the first job I did was working with you guys on a rest of development. Makes sense. To me, I just thought this is such an opportunity to work with these geniuses that I, you know, might never get again. Uh-huh, uh-huh, I don't know why. And then they were, the geniuses were not available, so you came to work with us. But you know, Mitch was amazing and kind of like approaching me and saying like, do you find this funny? Like let's, if you find this funny, we can figure something out. And that's kind of the comedy that I'm, I don't want to, I don't think I can do comedy that I don't myself find funny. Like I loved working with the point gray guys and Seth Rogan on long shot. Like that was a movie that I really loved. I would make that movie over and over and over again because it was just hands down one of the best experiences. Jonathan Levine kind of shepherded that thing and everybody was just, I find them very funny. Oh, great, Seth. So it was a pretty good deal with hilarious. I remember how our minds were blown that you were coming to do the show. Remember, well, we were just like, wait, what? Yeah. Charlie's there and it's coming here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was difficult. It was difficult. I was so nervous. I'm going to tell you guys right now. I don't think we were petrified. I would say that's like my top five most nervous jobs I've ever done. Because people don't think of me as funny. So there's this version of like, oh, here comes the dramatic, you know, but what was great that's going to like come and fuck our show up. Yeah, you were just playing this great character, you know, like it wasn't funny to her. You know, that was that was that brand of humor. Yeah. And that's I think that's the humor that I like, but I do feel pressure. I'm not pressure, but you guys are so good. So I look at you guys and I go, I, I, when I watched you two, and not a whole cast, I have to say it's effortless. But I also know you guys have been on the show for a while and you get into a thing. It's like there's nothing worse than being the new kid on the show. Like when you show up and it's like, but hopefully you saw how quickly we were all morons and it was just this big dumb family. We are idiots. You know, I, I found you guys very impressive, actually, very impressive. We were very, I remember just being like, what? You feel like so? I'm a question. No, you turned into George Michael. I really did. I did. But I, but what's kind of mind blowing to me, just hearing your story about coming here at 19 and not speaking English, you're just kind of, it's kind of mind blowing that you jumped into these films like with these huge successful people right away where most actor's stories are like, I did this commercial and then I try to give a TV show. I couldn't do that. You know, your, your journey was so quick. No, I did that. I did that. I went to just skipped over it. Oh, okay. I did like Ross dress for last commercials. Oh, okay, okay. And by that, I mean, I was like an extra in the back, you know, like not, not featured. But no, trust me, I, I was an extra in children of the corn three. Oh, okay. I, I, no, it was definitely not like, oh, here you go. Here you go. And what about like roommates that you have to find other actor room? Like how was the living situation growing up? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I lived in a loft with two other girls right next to the big five down in the San Vicente. Oh, sure. I lived there for years and it was a, you know, like a one bedroom loft. It was just a room and a bed, you know, coming out of the wall. And three of us lived there for, for years. The bathroom was literally right next to the kitchen. And I just, I would look at that toilet from the kitchen sink. And I just, the such of myself, let this be the motivation, let this be the motivation. We need to live somewhere where our toilet is right now next to the kitchen. That was like, that was a huge motivation. Did you still talk to that? Yeah, you and Scotty put a toilet in the kitchen just to cut down the commute. Just to cut down the commute. You can only put so much sloppy Joe in your face before, you know, you just can't make it. They did the math. They did the math on how much time they wasted. They sat down there to meet with their business manager. Oh, the truth is so funny sometimes. Charlie's is still trying to catch a breath. We'll wait. We could trim it all out. I literally cried. Oh, God. By the way, I've made these guys sloppy Joe's a couple times now. So maybe that's why. Well, I've heard about your Swedish fashion. Yeah, I've listened to the show. The plug that a Swedish fish in a piece of sloppy Joe can make. So Charlie's, the cushy shooting situation there at 20th Century Fox when we were doing a rest. It is nothing compared to the grueling location of, say, a Mad Max. Right. I mean, walk us through. Was it as tough as it looked out there doing Mad Max out in the middle of an Australian desert? Yeah, I love that. Or was there something really pushed just behind camera? No, we shot it in Namibia, actually. We were originally going to shoot it in Australia. Ask him where Namibia is. Just ask him what side of Africa it's on. Do you know where Namibia is? That's over there on the, on the left side. If you're looking at it from the north. You're right. Yeah. It was a 50/50 chance. Yeah, we'll see the left. If you see what you're left in the north, I was good. It's a beautiful place. It looks insane. Yeah, it's really beautiful. It's where, it's the only place where lions and whales meet. Like you'll see lions walk on the beach and eat, you know, discarded whales or. No way. Yeah, it's really a magical place. There's places called Skeleton Coast. And it's like, it's pretty magical. It has like, like, just like, it's just like. Yeah, sand dunes everywhere. I mean, the desert is unbelievable. And we went there because there was a flood. There was like a rain monsoon that hit Australia right before, as we were in pre-production. And the whole red desert in Australia just ended up being wildflowers. So not very. Oh, God. How long have we shoot with that? How many months? Oh, I just want to listen to this. So we had 140 cars that were made in Australia. And they had to ship. They put them all on a boat and drove them on the water. What is that? Oh, my God. Sail them on the water all the way to Namibia. Anyway, what were you asking Sean? I'm just saying how long. The reason why I know how long it is. It was long. You have to gear up mentally to be out of your house and your comfort zone. Because, like, when I hear about these, like, year-long shoots, I was like, it's so uproots your life. Obviously, we're all doing what we love to do. But it's how do you cope with that with the approach? I just started to think about the. What would the list look like in order of heartbreak, of the things you would be missing, Sean, from home, if you hadn't been shooting in Namibia? Like, what would be number one? You'd be like, "Gosh, I just don't know when I'd get my next. " Well, it's my bed. My bed is, like, you know, for the sleep. Like, you want to sleep in your own bed. You're bed with your fan. And what do you like when you sleep? You need a fan running and what else? You need a fan and need a pillow between my legs. Like a heart and a soft pillow and the thing. Like, you know, there's a pillow full of three musketeer minis. That's right. Well, I got to wake up in the morning. It gets me going. He's got to be within reach at any. It can't be a king size. We're not going to get into Sean's rider right now. The point is. But the point is like. But it is hard going away from. Yeah, it's really hard. I had my first kid. She was literally, I think, six weeks old. And I got on a plane with her as a baby. I was a new mom and I was. I mean, I know Namibia a little bit because most of my family. I was from Namibia. Namibia used to be part of South Africa. And then in the '90s, it became independent. So, Namibia was kind of familiar to me. But not that familiar. But I also. I mean, I was. It was crazy. And Jason, don't get me started. Because I know. I know what has to be done for you to go away. Yeah. I would have passed. I can back you on that. I've been a part of it. It's fucking pathetic. Oh, so. Jason, you can't even move to the valley. No. Who are you fucking kidding? Trust me, we had to shoot in the valley a couple of times and it was rough. It was rough for him. Oh. Not. He had his award. But it was. It was definitely long and it was the same scenery every single day. It wasn't as long as. It went way longer than we thought. So you had to mentally prepare like, "Okay, I'm gonna be gone for this long. This is how it has to go. Whatever, what's in my room?" Just so you can make it home because it's gonna be your home. I don't need a lot. I think, for me, it was important just to know that I was safe because safety is a bit of an issue there. Yeah. And I had a new baby and that one became the biggest issue. It was just me and Draxon in the house and I got broken in. Like, you know, three in the morning, like five times. That was really scary. Over there. Yeah. Broken into. Why are you sleeping? Yeah. You can hear. Where were we staying in, like a tent? No, I think this really nice house. They have all these beautiful coastal homes like right on the water and they're gorgeous. I mean, it puts Malibu to shame. But unfortunately, you're bringing in a big production. There's money. And you were dealing with people who are living way below poverty. And so it's just. It's a recipe for disaster. So that part of it was my biggest concern. And the people that you would ostensibly hire for security would be. They would be kind of part of it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. They were kind of. They were kind of part of the problem. Yeah. I ended up feeling really safe because if you know the movie, the war boys, the majority of the war boys were actually real military, Australian military that George bought out. And so they. Not to be confused with hot cops, will. Got it. Got it. Got it. But I would text them when I would hear something. I would text them and literally like three minutes. Three minutes later, I would see their flashlights coming in and then I just kind of relied on them and they kept me safe the whole movie. Right. Oh god. And then you wake up and. I mean, that was very physically, like, grueling part for you as well. And hot and dusty, yeah. Right? It was actually cold, really cold. Really cold hot? Yeah, it was freezing. We had a lot of cases of hypothermia that. Especially the young girls who only wear like bandages. Yeah. Like a lot of them got hypothermia. I was freezing just because when you don't have hair on your head, you forget it's like a heat releaseer. So it was really cold, actually. Now I'd rather freeze than sweat. That sounds good to me. Yeah, absolutely. Would you have been happier if it was 110? I like it when I have to do like action. I like colder better. Yeah, for sure. It's harder for me to have a ton of energy to do fight scenes when I just did this movie in Rome and it was one of the hottest summers. It was 115 degrees every single day. And I had to do these fight scenes out in these Roman streets. It couldn't keep fluid in your body. And were you wearing clothes and playing a character where you weren't supposed to be sweating? I mean, after a while, I'm just like, that's like the last thing I'm fucking thinking about. That's what show ramping. Yeah, I'm like, that's like the last of my, can I just be able to walk like your feet start cramping? Because you just have no fluid in your body. So yeah, definitely, you're a little colder. So many action films. I mean, you must have been injured beyond any ability to recuperate and keep schedules going forward. So many stories of you just saying, all right, that's it. We're down for a couple of weeks. No. With an injury, no? I don't know if it's stupidity or if it's just a high. I have a high, maybe a high tolerance for pain. But on the first old guard, I tore the tendon off this bone on my thumb. It got stuck in a guy's, like his, yeah. And it just, he moved and he ripped my whole thumb back. Oh, my God. And I, I mean, it was really painful. And I just kind of, you know, when you have an injury, you just kind of don't use it so much. And so I just didn't use it so much. But I had to do like three weeks of a big action sequence on a horse where I was riding with that hand and fighting with the right. And so I was just in denial. And then I came back and had surgery. It was that it was just floating. There was like nothing holding it. And I just finished the second one now. I just came back like 10 days ago. And I just had shoulder surgery two days ago. Sure. You're not, you're not, you're not old, but you're not fifth. No, I'm not. But you know, I recover really fast. And I, my body is in great shape. These are all just like superficial injuries. Like I actually, my shoulder is actually great. My knees are great. It's little, huh? How's your stunt double doing? I mean, I think you have the same one for years. Listen, she does, she does, she does like, you know, I'm not going to do stupid hard falls. Do down a staircase or like, you know, falling from a second. I don't do stuff like that. But she is. Is she still okay? Yeah, she's, she's fucking 24. I mean, nothing hurts a 24. What about Liam Neeson's stunt double? He must be all banged up. I have poor bastard. Yeah, it's fun to do this stuff. I like it. I really love it. You need a nice sitcom. No, I don't know. I think I'm, I'm not quite ready. I think like another, maybe in another 10 years. Yeah. There's something so fucking invigorating about hanging off the side of a helicopter. Well, what about, didn't you kind of got injured when you put on all that weight for a sully, right? I had more injuries on that movie. Yes. Just from gaining weight. I, I donated a disc at my lower back. Because I just. We had that happen. Well, I gained like 50 pounds. I had to wear a pregnancy belly that Jason Wrightman, the director thought, would be a good idea to make the actual size, the weight of a actual, so weighed like another 40 pounds. And then he put me in a fitting. And I had to put shoes on over and over. And just, you know, from bending and putting on shoes, I donated a disc in my lower back. And that's been the worst injury I've ever had. Wow. We'll be right back. All right, back to the show. Can I tell you something? This is a true story. Okay. First of all, you. We're going to listen harder. Thanks for stop lying. Go ahead, John. I was sitting there watching because you have this unbelievable ability to, like we spoke about earlier, to lose yourself into every character you play. It's very rare that, you know, there's Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is just like transformative. There's you who's always transformative. It's just an incredible feat. So I'm sitting there with Scottie and my husband watching bombshell. I swear to God, I'm not making this up. And like half hour, 40 minutes in, I'm like, I thought, where the fuck is Charlie's there? And I thought she was in this movie. And he's like, what are you idiot? That's her. And I'm like, as Megan Kelly, I was blown away. I mean, you look like her. You sound like her. It was so funny, you guy. I think it's like amazing. I don't fuck them. I'm enjoying this moment. Yeah. I'm just looking at your screen right now. It's just me and you. That's all I wanted to say. I remember a question. I was just like, I really truly was like, I thought Charlie's was in this movie. Oh, that's nice. That's her. It is pretty impressive. I mean, it was mind blowing. What about this new thing, a school for Good and Evil? What are you doing in that and why do you want to do it? What about it? Was it Paul Feeig? Because he's a good dude. Yeah, he did a couple of episodes of our rest of the moment. Yeah. Yeah, he's such an amazing guy. I also just, you know, I have two young kids now, seven and ten. And they're going to have to be like, at least, you know, 52 to see any of my work. So there is a level of wanting to make stop for them because they love this world, this kind of fantasy world. It was also, oh, fuck man, it was like towards the end of our lockdown and I was going stark, crazy. I was homeschooling the two of them. And I obviously couldn't take a job because I didn't want to move them, you know, because it just wasn't the right time to move a whole family somewhere. So it was a two week job up in Belfast and they got me back in 14 days and my mom took the kids. And so that was nice too. But yeah, mostly I did it for them. I want, you know, there's something, I don't know. There's something about, you know, kids that no matter who you are, you want to impress them. Like they're not impressed by Megan Kelly. Right. And it's also proof of like, well, this is, you know, mom is busy, but I swear I'm busy doing stuff. I swear it like something you can see. It's proof. Well, they see the posters when we drive to the bus. They never see the movies, right? But they always see the posters and they spend time on set and things like that. So they think they know what the movie is. And it's really funny when they're like, they see the poster and they just go, well, I don't know if that is the movie that I saw you make. How do you manage to do all of this work and still be such a great mom? Because I know you put an incredible time and focus to being an incredible mother. And I know that you've got incredible help from your mother, who's an incredible woman. But like, but as I said in the intro of 50 films, like, it takes a few months to do a movie, especially when you're the lead, like you always are. Like the math doesn't even work out. I don't know how you've gotten all that done and still been, you know. Well, I've been producing for, you know, close to two decades now. And I think that's really helped just taking some agency and making my own schedule. And so I really don't make anything like, I don't make any big movies unless I, you know, I push it into the summer where I can take my whole family. Like we all went to Rome for four months. And, but, you know, I get my kids back for school, but you're right. I can't do it without my mom. And I'm always very vocal and acknowledging that I am co-parenting with her. And so that's kind of unusual for people here, but that is the truth. She really is very much a co-parent. I love that. Yeah, it's amazing. I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky. How much of, how much, because your mom's been there, obviously, the whole time, and you are so close to her. How much do you talk to her about what choices you make as a, you know, sort of artistically as a producer or as an actor? Do you have a relationship like that at all? Do you go like, hey, I'm thinking about doing this thing. What do you think? Do you take, do you sound stuff off of her in that way, too, or no? So when I started, she was definitely, she was way more opinionated. I mean, she definitely, she's, she's very direct. Jason, you've met her. She's very funny. She's very direct. She's kind of, she's a broad. She's very, very brassy and loud, and she loves to swear, and she's just very honest. So in the beginning, when I started, there was a lot of like, wanting her approval, but she would go and see some of my movies and just be like, that's a piece of shit. Before you've been out of the theater. Yeah, and I was like, you should come out and you could just tell on her face, she was like, that is not good. But I appreciate it so much from her. It's kind of a relationship. I remember as a dancer, too, when I was little, like I would have a competition or something. She was never the parent that would sugarcoat it. She wasn't like abusive about it, but she was very honest. I knew that when she said something was good, I was like, fuck, that was, then that was really good. You know, like I really believe that more than the negative stuff. It becomes like a real barometer for you. Exactly. I can really trust her. So it's not so much, I mean, I tell her obviously because she's part of it. I have to like clear her tennis and golf schedule out here so that she can like, you know, pack up and move with me. But yeah, she likes a lot of stuff. She loves, she loves like the long shots. She likes those kind of movies. Yeah, yeah. But she loved this movie, this fantasy movie, this, um, the school for good and evil. She really loved it. Can't wait to see it. She's a big golfer. We need to double back to that. She's a big golfer and a really big tennis player. She's super athletic. She's going to be 70 next year, but she plays with 30-year-olds. I mean, she's really, she hikes every morning at 5 a.m. Three miles every morning with six dogs. She takes my dogs and her dogs. Wow. Then she goes and she walks 18 holes and then she plays tennis. No golf, no tennis for you. I only play golf with her and usually just on Mother's Day and I, but I love tennis. But tennis is like a later sport that I just learned because I had to find something for cardio because I couldn't really run anymore. Sure. And so I found tennis and I was like, this is great cardio and I enjoy it. Tennis is great. Tennis will play a lot of golf. Jason, I play a lot of golf. No, not pickleball. No pickleball. No, I mean, isn't that like what bull people play? Yeah, I think so. But sweeping the nation just because it's easy. It's really sweet things. Yeah. Americans really love to fucking glom on this. Do you guys play pickleball? I have played Sean's got a pickleball court and a toilet right in the middle of the court. I'm up for pickleball. I would love to learn. I played before. I've played pickleball before. It ruins your tennis game. I don't advise it if you like tennis because it engages the risk too much. I like ping pong, though. I used to play paddle a lot. Anybody like ping pong? Oh, I love ping pong. I have a ping pong table in my back. I don't like just bring up stuff that you don't have to move at all. Yeah, I just just my just my upper body. Xbox. What about that? I play TV. I like watching TV. Now, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you seem like such a brave person. What, what scares the hell out of you? What are you most afraid of? What's like? A great question. It doesn't seem like a very brave person. Yeah. But I earned, earned bravery, though, you know, it's not safe. Kind of threw up in my mouth a little bit there. Yeah. I mean, moving when you're 19, you can't speak English. You're making that, like, yeah. I mean, a lot of that, when I think back and now that I have kids, I'm like, God, was just. I feel like, you know, if I didn't come out of the circumstances that I did, no, my mom would have never done anything like that. And I don't think I would have done anything like that. But I came out of very complicated circumstances. You know, I didn't really, there wasn't a lot of choice. It was like swim or drown. Like, what are you going to do today? Yeah, you're tough, though. You seem very, you're very tough. Like, you have this, you can kind of see it. You have this kind of resolve, this inner resolve that come for me anyway. I felt like it's always shunned through. And you see him. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah. She's on top of her shit. She's very tough. But like, don't talk to her. Well, yeah. Well, what about like bees? Because like bees, bees will turn me into somebody I don't want to be seen. I think I've seen you like a scream like a girl. I really, I think I have. Yeah. And I'll just run. I'll just disappear like with like a rocket flare, like a cartoon character. I'll just tell you, I saw a cockroach yesterday, and I did not handle it well. Yeah, I'm not good with those kinds of stuff. I did not handle it well. I really could not. I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to kill it, but I also didn't want it to live. I was really, I was very, really torn. And then I just the idea of stepping on it. I couldn't. It was like, what did you do then? I made somebody else do it. Yeah, you called somebody and did you, did you, did you? No, I wanted to kill it. Not to kill it, but people, no, this was one lady was really brave. She just, she stepped on it, she took her shoe off and just did it. I was very grateful, yes. Is there anything, is there anything within sort of what you, the realm and the, you know, the bigger scope of what you do. So again, as a sort of, as an actor or a producer, a writer, director, whatever. Is there anything that you can think of that you think not seems scary for me to do? Would you dance or say? I mean, I would dance. I would love to dance. I don't know, I don't think I would sing. I'm a terrible singer. Me too. Yeah, and I'm very uncomfortable singing. Like, I break out in hives. That's why Jason Reitman always makes me sing in his movies. Because it's, I just love torturing me. But, um, I don't know. I mean, I, listen, I was really, I was really worried, scared. I was scared of doing Mike and Kelly. I really, I, you know, that's, it's one of those things where. You're like hoping for the best and you try to do as much work as possible. But there's no guarantee, right? And it's like, you go, you're like four or five weeks in and you still don't sound like her. And I did the first round of prosthetics and I looked like, like, like, close. Like, it was weird. Like, I don't know if this is going to work out. And so you feel like, you kind of feel like you're out on a limb and you're. Yeah. I was like, this can, this can definitely go very wrong. Like, I definitely felt that. How about when in Prometheus, when you just lit some guy up on fire? That was like, you had like a fire machine and the guy I was sitting. A flamethrower or a fire machine. Or whatever it's called. Well, I didn't really do that. But, you know, you didn't get a fire gun. You had like a flu. You know, they actually, that one did, they did light up on minus. Like, there was nobody in front of me. But it did light up. I think they did one where it kind of lights up a little bit. And that was pretty bad. You just like blowing them the bits like that lighting them on fire. I'm so sorry, Shirley. Holy fuck. I love that movie so much. You do? That's so sweet. Oh my god. Well, the fan fest, you know. I love that you go between Megan Kelly and that. That's. I've seen Prometheus like 10 times. I love it. And you know, it's wild. I mean, now Spender is pretty amazing. I did a deep dive on YouTube about it because the engineer, I don't know, you're never mind. I don't know if this is true or not. Because Ridley Scott had, I don't know if it's true, but I heard that he had this original script that explained kind of the whole, they gave this engineer this dialogue that explained the whole movie. But he cut it, which was that the, in the Bible, when Jesus was in there for however many years, because you know, the Bible cuts from when he was a kid to 30, that these engineers, these aliens came, picked them up, brought them to their planet, taught them how they should teach humanity, brought them back. And then that's what he tried to do. But they failed. And that's why these aliens want to come back and wipe it out because it's gotten so bad. And you heard this where? What? Online, somewhere. Wow. Something. I can't verify that for you. That's really interesting. It's fascinating, isn't it? It's okay. And if it's not true, it's a good idea. It's a great idea. The world is round too, Sean. It's round. It's where. But anyway. Some, some, some listeners right now are touching themselves. Like, you know, people really appreciate that kind of knowledge. Thank you. Oh, I thought you had been touching themselves. Like, am I fucking here? Is this, is this actually, did I just pass out? What am I, did I feel? I didn't know if you knew, if you heard that, if that was true. No, I mean, no. I mean, why does she know? She doesn't spend her time on Reddit with you and Scottie. I'm going fucking putting in Prometheus fucking theories. Thanks, Jack, bro. Scottie, we should get to bed. It's 4 a.m. Yeah, but look at this thread. Look at this fucking thread. Fucking fuck, man. That stuff is fascinating to me. I know. I know. All right. Charlie is, you're the greatest. Yeah. You're the best ever. Guys, I really love this show. Congratulations. I listen to it all the time when I start waiting for my kids up. It's the joy to listen to you guys. You're really funny. Thank you. Thanks. And thank you for having me. I guess you ran out of people. Yeah. I would listen to what I thought. How dare you. Yeah, we're on the team. We're on the team. We're between both of you. It's will, but that's. That's how we say it enough to come. You should. That's, I was like, wow. I'm like, you guys must have really cleared your list. Even you, Sean, I know you too. Like, what the fuck happened? Can I tell you something right now? You're on the team. Yeah. You've been on my list since day one. Obviously Jason. You were on Jason's list. Yeah. And I was like, no, I get it. So, Bill is the one that we are. No, no, no. I have a different list than it. And then it just, I don't know. I can't. I didn't end up having a pen. Well, thank you for having me, you guys. Yes. We love you. Have a great rest of the day. Love you, Ray back. You guys too. Thank you for doing this. All right. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. That was so funny. Um, I love that. What is that theory for Prometheus? Is that really what it was about? Well, I mean, if there's this one guy's thing, he said he had a copy of the script and like, that, that the whole point of the aliens wanting to wipe out earth is because we're not getting it right. We're making the earth worse. Why? Why are you going to tell it again? What are you? Or just fascinated that you just like go in and look for meanings of like when you saw Charlie and the chocolate factors, did you do a deep dive for the meaning of that? That's pretty much true for it. That's just from the bust. One of my favorite movies. Charlie and the chocolate factor. The original. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that movie too. Um, great get. Now that was just great to have our buddy Charlize on. How do you know where Jason? I didn't know you knew her so well. Just from arrested. In a movie. Okay. Can you guys make a movie together? Oh, that's right. And we also did. Wait. Did I do Hancock before or after arrested? After. After. After. But that was really, really fun. That was my first, maybe only, um, big budget movie. That was pretty impressive. Seeing that whole. It was a superhero. Yeah, there's a huge movie that you did. And. And. But yeah, she came and did it. Five episodes of arrested. The most Canadian pronunciation of five. I ran into her at the airport when she was nominated for monster. She was making the rounds and. And I was doing press two and there was this room. And what we do in press for Sean. We'll embrace her something. And, um, and we just done Oprah did like the same day. And I saw her at the airport. And I did this big dance for her. And she looked at me like, I have the airport you did. Yeah, just trying to make her laugh. And she was like, what's wrong with you? Like. Did you have time to get into it? Did you have time to get into what was wrong with you? No, no. If you were, if you were late for a flight, you must not have had time. To get to answer that. All right. What's wrong with you? I remember she had, so she did the show we had. And we had also had, um, remember we had Patty Jenkins. The year before who directed monster. Oh, yeah. Directed. She's great. Yeah. That is awesome. Wait, Patty Jenkins directed the rest of the moment too. Yeah, who went on to do Wonder Woman films and etc. Yeah, who's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's had great directors. We sure did. What's the name of the show? Oh, my God, it's so. Should we come over? We should come over. We'll walk over to Sean's house. We'll watch some rest of the development. We'll take them over. We'll watch Will and Grace together. We'll watch Will and Grace. Okay. That sounds like a fun. We'll make a new podcast out of it. Yeah. You know, a little watch through. And we'll, we'll sign a contract that we each were all going to watch it. And that contract will be bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. You guys, I fucking, I was crying laughing. So hard. Good. God. Smart. Smart. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armstrong, and Bennett Barberco.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. The hosts engage in casual banter about personal topics like family events, fashion choices (socks, shoes with suits), and tattoos.
  2. Charlize Theron joins as a guest, discussing her background, including growing up in South Africa without speaking English until age 19, her early career in ballet, and her transition to acting.
  3. She shares anecdotes about her unexpected entry into Hollywood, her natural approach to acting, and the mentorship she received early in her career.

Summary:

The conversation begins with the hosts of SmartLess chatting informally about recent events, such as a family birthday party, and debating fashion choices like wearing sneakers with suits and the significance of fun socks. They then introduce guest Charlize Theron, who discusses her upbringing in South Africa, where she didn’t speak English until she was 19, learning it primarily from British ballet teachers. She explains her initial passion for ballet and storytelling, which led her to pursue acting after an injury.

Theron recounts moving to Los Angeles with no plan, staying in a budget motel, and being discovered by a manager at a bank. She reflects on her natural affinity for acting, viewing it as an escape, and highlights the importance of mentorship from industry professionals like directors and writers early in her career. The dialogue blends humor, personal stories, and insights into Theron’s journey from South Africa to Hollywood success.

FAQs

SmartLess is a podcast where hosts engage in casual conversations, often featuring celebrity guests, with a mix of humor and personal anecdotes.

The guest is Charlize Theron, an Academy Award-winning actor, producer, model, and United Nations messenger of peace.

She grew up in South Africa and didn't speak English until age 19, learning it primarily from British ballet teachers, which made it easier for her to drop any accent later.

After moving to Los Angeles with no plan, she was discovered by a manager at a bank who helped her get into acting classes, leading to her first film roles.

They debated terms like 'suit pants' versus 'slacks' and discussed wearing sneakers with suits, highlighting personal style preferences and humor.

She has two light, charcoal-gray tattoos that are easy to cover or edit in film production, and mentioned legal considerations like getting artist approval for displaying tattoos in movies.

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