Positioning a South African icon such as Sun International comes with a challenge. How do you singularly represent this multi-faceted organisation, the benchmark for Southern African hospitality and gaming entertainment? How do you align iconic hotels, resorts and casinos under a mother brand and yet keep their individual nature.

This challenge gave rise to a new corporate promise for Sun International - A Million Thrills. One Destination.

When Sun International briefed Ogilvy South Africa to dramatise its new corporate positioning, the agency came up with a concept to use Charlize Theron as the star. Ogilvy believed that Theron could capture the magic of the brand and truly bring it to life.

“The key focus was to find an individual that could truly answer the brief of uniting very different brands such as gaming and resorts under the umbrella of a million thrills, one destination. Charlize as a persona was amazingly able to not only provide the promise of excitement when it came to gaming but also the grace and sensuality of resorting,� says Nunu Ntshingila, Ogilvy South Africa CEO.
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Enthusiastic feedback is pouring in for the historic 90-second commercial for Sun International featuring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron.

The commercial was directed by Ian Gabriel and conceptualised by creatives Felix Kessel, Jacques Massardo and Prabashan Pather of Ogilvy South Africa. The commercial marks a bold launch for Sun’s signature campaign for the coming years and gives notice that major brands are all gearing up for the big marketing opportunity that heralds the run-up to South Africa’s host status at the 2010 World Cup.

True to form, this commercial boasts an arresting soundtrack by Muse, aptly supporting its diverse and breathtaking visuals. Gabriel’s direction expertly brings out the commercial’s international feel while embracing its South African flavour: a melding of two worlds which Charlize Theron so accurately embodies.
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Oscar-winner Charlize Theron played the role of supportive girlfriend during her visit to the Sarasota Film Festival..

Her longtime boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, wrote and directed his first film, “Battle in Seattle,” which was to be shown in back-to-back screenings Sunday night.

Though she took center stage as an award recipient at the film festival ball Saturday night, she tried valiantly to downplay her presence and to promote Townsend and the film.

She did the same thing during an often serious, occasionally banter-filled conversation with Townsend and co-stars Martin Henderson and Michelle Rodriguez Sunday afternoon.

Townsend talked about the difficulty of writing his first script for the film about the riots that erupted during the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle in 1999.

“I take my hat off to him,” Theron said. “When you’re lucky enough to witness somebody, and in this case somebody I love, go through an experience like this, it’s wonderful.”
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“It would be amazing if Charlize Theron did one of our ‘go naked’ campaigns,” Jameson said. “I saw her just the other day and she just blew me away. Charlize is so sexy; I would totally love for her to go naked. I’d die for that.”

Source/Full Story: foxnews.com

Charlize Theron was straightforward and somewhat philosophical about Hollywood after she accepted the Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year award last month.

“You can’t take this industry too seriously,” she said. “We want to believe we’re curing cancer, but we really aren’t.”

She’s like that. Direct. Theron, pronounced “Troon” with a rolled “r” in her native Afrikaans, is out publicizing her new movie, “Sleepwalking,” a grim indie about a wreck of a family that opens in some cities Friday. It is set to open in Tucson March 28.

The woman is a serious actor and a strong feminist, but you can’t reach any of that until you’ve confronted her implacable beauty. She’s an honest 5 feet 11 inches, and rather than wearing low pumps to minimize her height, she sports gray stiletto heels that match skin-tight gray pants and an elegant gray shawl.
Theron’s looks are never far from any discussion of her work. To some, she has willfully chosen parts that nullify her beauty. “So much has been made of the physical transformation in ‘Monster,’ ” she says about the 2003 movie that earned her a best-actress Oscar.
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It is hard to imagine how Charlize Theron and Nick Stahl could be more different.

The stars of “Sleepwalking,� who play siblings carrying the wounds of an abusive childhood, are seated only a few feet from each other on a dark gray couch in the presidential suite of the St. Regis Hotel. They are on a promotional tour to discuss what it was about the film that brought together two such opposites.

Theron, 32, is a statuesque former model and dancer from South Africa who earned an Academy Award in 2003 for the film “Monster.� For the promotional stop, Theron traveled 22 hours from South Africa, where she was shooting a commercial, to be here. She’s outgoing and charming.
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Caring Charlize Theron fought back tears as she told how she is helping save lives in her native South Africa.

The Hollywood beauty is working with chatshow host Oprah Winfrey to provide a mobile health clinic and education centre to tackle the devastating threat of HIV and AIDS.

She struggled to contain her emotions when she appeared on Oprah’s show to talk about the project and watch a video of her recent visit to Africa.

The clinic travels to four schools in remote and impoverished areas of KwaZulu-Natal to give HIV tests and vital sex education to students.
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It’s been a while since Charlize Theron has been seen at a premiere, but she was certainly on glowing form for the opening of her new flick on Thursday night. The beautiful South African stepped out in LA to a screening of her drama Sleepwalking.

And despite the title of the movie, the Oscar-winning actress was wide awake as she sent flashbulbs popping in a flapper-style black frock with on-trend platform sandals.

Talented Charlize, who stars as a troubled woman who abandons her 12-year-old daughter, was also on producing duty for the film. And it seems her work has a high-profile fan - in the form of veteran actor and co-star Dennis Hopper.

“It’s terrific and Charlize is terrific,” declared Dennis, who attended the screening with his wife Victoria Duffy. “I can hardly wait to see it!”

Source: hellomagazine.com

Charlize and Stanley Tucci will be in attendance at the 10th annual Sarasota Film Festival, which runs April 4-13, 2008. They are set to be honored at the festival along with Ted Hope.

South African Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron (“Monster�, “In the Valley of Elah�) has signed a contract with hotel, resort and casino group Sun International to star in its new brand campaign.

According to Business Times the campaign will be flighted on TV in April. Sun International CE David Coutts-Trotter says that the parallels between Sun International and Theron are wonderful as both are South African born and internationally acclaimed.

The ad campaign is produced by Anant Singh of Videovision Entertainment and directed by Ian Gabriel (“Forgiveness�), and sees the first major international celebrity signing an advertising deal with an African hotel, resort and casino chain.

Source: screenafrica.com