Actress Charlize Theron would rather you forget that she is statuesque and beautiful and instead focus on her passion … acting. That passion earned the talented beauty an Academy Award for her performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s MONSTER. Theron was almost unrecognizable, gaining 30 pounds, wearing unflattering clothes, a bad haircut and little makeup for the part.

In fact, in many of her films she is physically toned down for authenticity purposes. I mean, c’mon, have you seen the real Wuornos? They are hardly two peas in a pod. And because of her God given good looks Theron had to fight to get that part. But fighting is something Theron has no problem doing. If she believes in the material she will do whatever it takes to be a part of it, even if that means taking a smaller part in a film.

“It is always [about] the story,” reveals the 32-year-old Theron. “You can have the best character in the world and a crap story. It doesn’t matter. I would rather be in a good movie whether I’m in it for two minutes or two hours, that doesn’t matter to me.”

In the case of her new film IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, Theron was won over by Paul Haggis’ moving screenplay. Theron plays Det. Emily Sanders who is enlisted to help find the son of a career officer (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife (Susan Sarandon) who, after serving duty in Iraq, returns home only to go missing shortly thereafter.

Although ELAH has many underlining contemporary themes, Theron insists there is no political agenda to the film.

“To me this is a human story,” explains Theron. “It [is] about people. It [is] the [truth]. I didn’t feel like it [has] any liberal, democratic or republican message behind it. I didn’t feel like it was pro war or against war. I felt like this was just the truth about the realities of war. We are sending these very young kids over there to go and do something that very few of us will go and do and I have great respect for that.”

An enormous amount of her admiration also goes to Haggis, whom she has wanted to work with for a long time. But as writer and director of ELAH Haggis learned of Theron’s acting pet peeves, including a distinct disdain for overwrought dialogue.

“I’m not a fan of words,“ admits Theron. “Directors hate me sometimes. I really have a very clear understanding of how powerful the physical can be. You can have an entire monologue and sometimes as an actor we get lost in these showy moments. I really have no desire for a monologue. When Paul starting writing my part I was like ‘Can you cut down on the lines? Please?’ “

Not an easy thing to say to a man who just took home an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay the previous year for CRASH. And yet, Theron seems to know what works for her, seemingly unafraid to tell even the most acclaimed screenwriters and directors what she needs to do her job right.

“I will strip it down to the bare bones,” notes Theron who adds with a laugh, “I would have loved to have been in silent films.”

More surprisingly, this native South African hasn’t yet shot a film in her homeland, but it’s not because she doesn’t have the desire. The opportunity just hasn’t presented itself.

“I think I am the only actor who hasn’t shot a film in South Africa,” jokes Theron. “And I’m a God damned South African. It’s just ridiculous so I would love to shoot something in South Africa. That would just be amazing. I am always struggling to find the time to go home. That would be amazing to do it for a job.”

For now, she promotes IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, and although she claims no ulterior motive is tied to the film she feels strongly about the treatment of our soldiers when they do finally come home.

“They are coming back here and we can’t expect them to fit back into society and be normal functioning citizens,” says Theron. “It’s just not going to happen and we have to give them the right tools and we are not. To hear them come back and not be looked after, I think that is very ungrateful. We can’t do that.”

Source: ifmagazine.com