Charlize Theron is a former model, dancer and, of course, Oscar winner. While she has appeared in some funny stuff – a recurring guest stint on television’s Arrested Development, as well as providing a voice in the cult hit Robot Chicken – she has increasingly been drawn to darker roles. She won her Oscar for Monster, after all, in which she played a serial killer. She both stars in and is a producer of Sleepwalking, opening Friday, in which she plays a troubled mother who abandons her 11-year-old daughter (AnnaSophia Robb), leaving her in the care of her struggling brother (Nick Stahl). Theron spoke recently about the film, her choices and her work.

Q: You seem drawn to dark subject matter. Why?

A: News flash – we’re living in some interesting times right now. For me, really, it’s not like I set out to look for that kind of material. I read a lot of material and that happens to be material that kind of emotionally taps into me. I think living in this world, it would be pretty impossible not for me to emotionally tap into those stories. I’ve never been genre-driven. I don’t really compartmentalize them and think of them as one kind of movie. To me, it’s really about storytelling … Whatever form that comes in, I’m definitely not going to turn down a good story because it’s similar in a dramatic sense or an emotional sense to something else I did.

Q: How do you make your choices?

A: You read stuff and you either tap into it or you don’t. The next day is usually a good gauge to go by. If you wake up the next morning and you’re still thinking about it, that’s probably a good sign.

Q: Robb and Stahl are good together. Is that how you pictured that relationship?

A: Yeah, very much. There were very clear guidelines as to what I felt, from reading the material, what it should be. A lot of that depends on the chemistry of two actors that you’re going to cast together … It was important for me never to have it cross any kind of lines. I never wanted in any way for anyone to walk away thinking it was anything but a really good partnership between the two of them, this kind of odd couple that gets together and rescues each other.

Q: When you have to do the dark stuff, is it hard to shake off?

A: No, it takes discipline. It’s a choice. That’s what I try to teach (Robb). It’s very easy to just kind of stay in those places. The mind is very powerful. The mind will do what you tell it to do. Early on in my career it was a very conscious decision. I like my life and I can’t take my work home, because it will bleed into your life, and it’s just not fair to the people you live with and your family and your friends. That’s just not how I want to do it. So when I work I work hard, and when I go home I live my life.

Source: clarionledger.com