Charlize Theron Felt Women Were Misrepresented in Sci-Fi Films
Actor Charlize Theron has starred in a number of sci-films like Prometheus and Aeon Flux. In her experience, she felt it was necessary for female sci-fi roles to be written a certain way for more compelling characters.
Charlize Theron felt female characters in sci-films could’ve improved
Theron has been interested in dabbling in the sci-fi genre ever since she was little. One of her favorite characters onscreen was Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley in the Alien franchise. Ripley helped inspire Theron to pursue similar strong leading roles as she got older. But apart from an already strong passion for sci-fi films, Theron gravitated towards those kinds of movies to prove a point.
“I’ve always wanted to explore the genre a little bit more, especially because I think it’s such a misconception that women don’t like the genre, or that they don’t want to go and see these movies,” Theron once told IGN.
The actor also believed the common depiction of female characters in sci-fi films still had a lot of room for improvement in cinema.
“I just feel like women have been so misrepresented in these films – why do we have to go and see the genre every single time with the girl in the back of the frame in a push-up bra? Why isn’t there a girl that’s standing on the same playing field with the guys… …we don’t want to be guys, but in a post-apocalyptic world, we will survive,” she once said on Live! With Kelly and Michael (via Contact Music).
Charlize Theron knew her first sci-fi feature would be a flop
Theron first had the opportunity to lead a potential sci-fi franchise in the feature Aeon Flux. The film saw the Oscar-winner playing a highly skilled assassin, and took place in the 25th century. But Flux didn’t have much impact on the movie industry. It didn’t make any of its money back, and was one of Theron’s lowest-rated movies. It currently has a 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
But the film’s performance may not have come as a shock to Theron, who saw early signs of the movie’s future.
“This is going to sound so ‘poor me,’ but I do feel like sometimes, as women, we get one shot and I knew that Aeon Flux was going to be a f***ing flop,” Theron said in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Theron shared that, at the end of the day, she just wanted to get Aeon Flux over with. And although she was the star, Theron didn’t have the power or voice she needed to save her ill-fated project.
“I don’t know if I had the answers for how to [fix it], but I definitely knew we were in trouble,” she said. “I wasn’t a producer on it, and I didn’t really have the experience to say what I believe Tom Cruise has maybe said for the past 20 years, which is, ‘Shut this s*** down, get four more writers on it and let’s figure this out.’”
Charlize Theron credited the sci-fi feature ‘Mad Max’ for changing her entire career trajectory
Unlike Aeon Flux, Mad Max: Fury Road was perhaps everything she hoped to experience in a sci-fi film. The George-Miller directed project followed his original Mad Max, and saw Theron paired with Tom Hardy in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Fury Road made decent money at the box office and was as critically acclaimed as the first Mad Max. It was exactly the type of movie that Theron felt she could be proud of.
“Max Max: Fury Road really changed the trajectory for me,” she said. “There are a lot of possibilities here. You just have to find the right people who are willing to explore these stories with women. I became actively involved and became a producer.”
