As Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, Charlize Theron played the most kickass female protagonist of a Hollywood movie since Ellen Ripley in Alien. Theron recently took a trip down memory lane, and shared a video on Instagram of herself getting her long locks shaved off in preparation for the role with the following message.
“In honor of our @ctaop drive-in screening of Mad Max tonight, throwing it back to the point of no return with creating Furiosa. A huge thank you to @thegrovela and @CHCre8tive for making tonight happen! So excited to see this movie on the big screen again.”
The actress shared the video as part of a promotion for her celebrity charity event screening of Mad Max: Fury Road on Friday night on the roof of The Grove parking lot. The event, which was a joint effort of Theron&Ţs nonprofit CTAOP (Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project), the Caruso property and event agency CH Cre8tive, was meant to offer a new way to hold charity functions in the age of social distancing.
Aisha Tyler was also present for the function as the emcee, along with Theron’s Fury Road co-star Nicholas Hoult. The two also took part in a pre-screening Q&A moderated by the New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan, during which Theron noted the similarity between the fashion style of their post-apocalyptic movie and the world as it actually is today.
“We’re basically dressed like Tom Hardy in the film. We’re wearing muzzles to protect ourselves. I always felt like this story was a cautionary tale. It feels so imminent. The story of the search for community and belonging and finding your tribe really resonated with me. We need to do better. We need to take care of each other.”
Starting out as a dramatic actress with an Academy Award for her performance in Monster, Charlize Theron is today known as an action movie icon, with star-making turns in Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, and the most recent The Old Guard. The actress’ star has never been higher, and she made good use of her celebrity at the drive-in charity event, with proceeds going towards helping CTAOP fight HIV in Africa, and in aid of the ‘Together for Her’ campaign committed to stopping gender-based violence during the lockdown.
While Furiosa has stood the test of time as her own separate character, she will be portrayed in her upcoming solo movie by a different, younger actress. In the past, Theron has expressed sadness over the fact that her time as Furiosa is over, but she remains grateful for getting to portray her in the first place.
“Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking, for sure. I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly. Obviously, I would love to see that story continue, and if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner. We get so hung up on the smaller details that we forget the thing that we emotionally tap into has nothing to do with that minute thing that we’re focusing on.”