With the release of The Old Guard 2 on Netflix ahead of the holiday weekend, star Charlize Theron is reflecting on the state of female-led action movies in Hollywood and why she is no longer doing as many stunts as before.
In a joint interview with the New York Times opposite her co-star Uma Thurman, the Mad Max: Fury Road actress said studios are less likely to give more chances to women who spearhead blockbusters, especially if the movie doesn’t kill at the box office.
“Yeah, it’s harder. That’s known,” she responded when asked by the newspaper if there’s still a gender disparity in getting certain pics made. “Action films with female leads don’t get green lit 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. When women do this and the movie maybe doesn’t hit fully, they don’t necessarily get a chance again. 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.”
A veteran of commercially successful action-packed cinema, including The Italian Job, Atomic Blonde and several Fast & Furious entries, Theron also opened up about doing less stunts in her career due to past severe injuries that required surgery.
“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!’ I had an unfortunate injury on the first action attempt I ever did, for a bad movie called Aeon 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,” she recalled.
As a result, Theron said she has “no desire to learn how to fall down a flight of stairs” nor perfect underwater acting.
“It’s about time we actually recognize those performers,” she said, alluding to the Oscars’ addition of an Achievement in Stunt Design category in 2027, “because 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.’”
Thurman, for whom The Old Guard 2 marks a return to action in over two decades, agreed, saying she is “really practical” when it comes to avoiding taking on projects that require a lot of physicality, such as underwater elements.
A followup to 2020’s Gina Prince-Bythewood original based on Greg Rucka’s comic book series about immortal mercenaries, Victoria Mahoney‘s The Old Guard 2 follows Andy (Theron), no longer immortal, facing a formidable foe in Discord (Thurman).
You can read Deadline’s full interview with Mahoney here.
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