Charlize Theron slams studios for being afraid to take 'risk' on female-led action movies

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Charlize Theron is accusing major Hollywood studios of not wanting to make female-led action movies because they view them as too much of a “risk.”

The Academy Award winning actress is no stranger to taking on physically demanding roles, appearing in films like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Italian Job, Atomic Blonde, the Fast & Furious films, Æon Flux and Netflix’s The Old Guard series. But in a new interview with the New York Times, Theron, 49, said that male actors can try and fail when it comes to action movies, while their female counterparts only get one chance to succeed.

“Yeah, it’s harder. That’s known,” she responded when the Times asked if gender plays a role in what types of movies get made.

“Action films with female leads don’t get greenlit as much as the ones with male leads. I think the thing that always frustrates me is the fact that guys will get a free ride,” Theron continued.

“When women do this and the movie maybe doesn’t hit fully, they don’t necessarily get a chance again,” she added.

Theron helped launch The Old Guard franchise on Netflix, in which she leads a team of immortal mercenaries. Going into the first film, which debuted on the streamer back in 2020, Theron said she was keenly aware that there would be a lot of interest in how audiences responded to the movie.

“With this, we were very aware that eyes were on us. It’s not a risk that studios want to take, but they’ll take it many times on the same guy who might have a string of action movies that did not do so well,” she told the outlet.

Theron said she has sought out action films after her career as a dancer didn’t pan out.

“I love dance, but I would never have been able to go back and be a dancer again, right?” she said. “Action movies gave me this opportunity to be physical again, to be a storyteller with my body.”

But she also said the parts have taken a physical toll on her and have led to multiple surgeries over the years.

“I run into people and they’re like, ‘Oh, what happened to your arm?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I just had surgery.’ And they’re like, ‘The last time I saw you, you had surgery!’” Theron said. “I had an unfortunate injury on the first action attempt I ever did, for a bad movie called Æon Flux. On day nine, I did a back handspring, and I didn’t get enough height, and I landed on my neck on a concrete bridge. I had the last surgery on my neck 18 years ago. I’ve had surgery on both elbows, my right shoulder, my thumb, carpal tunnel, fractures. A lot of fractures.”

Nowadays, Theron told the Times she is happy to let stunt performers take the reigns and said she has “no desire to learn how to fall down a flight of stairs.”

“It’s about time we actually recognize those performers,” she said, speaking about stunt people and the Academy’s decision  to create a new awards category for the 2027 Oscars. “They are truly part of character building. Without them, there’s a lot of stuff that would never be in a movie that I’m in. I’m never going to know how to fall down a flight of stairs, or jump on a moving vehicle. My adult woman brain is like, ‘No thank you. I’m OK not doing that.’”

The Old Guard 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

mdaniell@postmedia.com