The hit filmMonstermay have wonCharlize Theronan Oscar, but not everyone saw potential in her performance that came along with a physical transformation to better look the part. Released in 2003,Monsterwas directly based on the story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute turned serial killer who murdered six men between 1989 and 1990. Though she claimed to have acted in self-defense, Wuornos was executed for the killings in 2002.
To tell the story of Wuornos withMonster,Wonder Womanhelmer Patty Jenkins enlisted Theron to play the serial killer. Theron had taken the part seriously, and to better look the part, she had undergone a makeover which included shaving her eyebrows and putting on 30 pounds. This was in line with the vision Jenkins also had for the film, but when a financier first saw early footage of Theron in the role, the project was put into jeopardy. As Theron explains in a new interview withTHR, she says she then boardedMonsteras a producer to join Jenkins in fighting to keep their vision for the film intact, regardless of how “ugly” her makeover made her appear in the eyes of a suit.
From the interview:
“To protect Patty [Jenkins,] actually. She’s a fking pit bull, and I could relate to that. But we were surrounded by older, white men, and we knew the movie we were making, but they didn’t. I remember one night, three weeks in, our financier calls. He had obviously tried Patty first, but I was stupid enough to pick up the phone at 3 a.m. He was like, ‘I just got the dailies and you’re so fat and so ugly and you never smile.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ And I called Patty and she goes, ‘Don’t fking listen to that.’ That was the first time I heard a woman go, ‘F**k them,’ and it was a rebellion that I never knew before. I was always the one kind of charging it, but in a way safer way than she was because there was a part of me that was almost like, ‘Maybe he’s right.'”
How Jenkins reacted at that time has served as an inspiration for Theron that has stuck with her to this day. She goes on to easy that there are times when she has to ask herself what Jenkins and other inspirations would do when she finds herself in difficult situations.
“I have moments to this day where I’m like, ‘What would Patty f**king do?’ And other women, too. I go down the list. What would Sigourney Weaver do? What would Gale Anne Hurd do?”
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Monster Won Charlize Theron an Oscar
Jenkins and Theron turned out to be right, asMonsterwas a big hit even with Theron looking far unlike the previous roles she’d played. The movie, which co-starred Christina Ricci as Wuornos’ lover, was a box office success in addition to scoring big at various award shows. That notably includes the Academy Awards, where Theron herself took home Best Actress for her role in the film. Legendary critic Roger Ebert had even described the portrayal as “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.”
You can revisitMonsterby streaming the film where it’s currently available on multiple services, such as Netflix and the free platform Tubi.
