Charlize Theron Once Caused a Lot of Panic After Changing Her Looks for the Film ‘Monster’
Actor Charlize Theron famously won an Oscar for her starring role in the feature Monster. But the dramatic transformation she did for the movie almost interfered with its release.
Charlize Theron once shared why some were concerned about ‘Monster’
Theron was heavily praised for her role as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. But leading up to the movie, few thought it would’ve gotten the positive buzz it did. The film’s director Patty Jenkins once told IGN that the feature was well on its way to being released on DVD. Theron’s involvement might’ve helped Monster secure a theatrical release.
“It’s banking on a straight to video release. Particularly because this was not Ted Bundy, this was living people right now who still were dealing with it. Aileen was alive at the time and there were people’s families. So for me, this was not something I could take a chance shooting in 12 days in Romania with two B-movie actresses and being responsible to telling this story correctly,” Jenkins said.
But the movie was facing a few hurdles even while filming. According to Theron, many couldn’t help express their displeasure in seeing Theron in the role.
“There wasn’t one person in this industry who wanted that film made. We had our financiers calling us at 3 a.m. and asking us what the hell we were doing,” Theron once told Orange County Register.
One of their points of concern was Theron’s looks in the picture. A mix of make-up and prosthesis was applied on her face to give her a more haggard appearance. But the amount of push back Theron faced for the movie made winning an Oscar for it all the better.
“They didn’t like the way I looked, and they wondered who would want to see this movie. When we finished, we couldn’t pay a distributor to take it. We were hours away from signing a straight-to-video deal with Blockbuster when we found a distributor. For that reason alone, the Oscar was especially sweet,” she said.
How Patty Jenkins felt about Charlize Theron being called too ‘beautiful’ for ‘Monster’
Jenkins addressed the concern that Theron might’ve been a bit too attractive to play Aileen Wuornos. Jenkins was asked why she didn’t simply call on a more regular-looking actor to portray Wuornos instead of bringing down Theron’s looks for the role. But the Wonder Woman filmmaker confided that, due to the nature of Hollywood, most professional actors were already attractive. This meant Jenkins had to work with what was available to her at the time.
“Well the reality is there aren’t a lot of professional actresses who look like Aileen Wuornos,” Jenkins said. “The reality is in the pool of working actresses today, there is a demand for people who are beautiful, so the reality is the majority of people who are high functioning professionals are attractive. I think the thing that people don’t know about Aileen was she had been a good-looking woman, it’s just that life dragged her down.”
Theron was also Jenkins’ choice for Wuornos from the beginning.
“It’s hard to explain why. I think she’s a dynamic, powerful person who also has a tremendous vulnerability that I believe. So for me, it was at the core of the human being that was there I thought she had what it took to play for this role. I pined away for a long time when everybody assumed I wouldn’t get her,” Jenkins added.
Charlize Theron chose to gain weight to play her ‘Monster’ character
Theron didn’t just change herself facially for the role, but physically as well. In an interview with Spliced Wire, the actor revealed she gained weight for the role. This wasn’t a requirement for the part, but Theron felt it was necessary to better capture Wuornos’ feelings.
“It wasn’t about getting fat,” she said. “Aileen wasn’t fat. Aileen carried scars on her body from her lifestyle, and if I’d gone to make this movie with my body — physically I’m very athletic — I don’t know that I would have felt the things Aileen felt with her body. It was about getting to a place where I felt closer to how Aileen was living. I didn’t want to look at my body and see my natural muscle. That kind of thing would have thrown me off completely in trying to be her.”
