Inside "Aeon Flux" with Director Karyn Kusama and Producer Gale Ann Hurd

Producer Gale Ann Hurd on Casting Academy Award-Winner Charlize Theron in “Aeon Flux:” “Well, you know, you need a combination of someone who has amazing acting chops but also brings the physicality to it. And Charlize’s background as a dancer is really key. Her movements are just as much a part of the Aeon Flux character as… This isn’t one where there’s huge emoting, in terms of there’s not any crying. There’s a completely unique character who exists just as much in the way she stands and the way she performs each and every action. And Charlize was able to bring that to this.”

On Why Charlize Theron Chose “Aeon Flux” After “Monster:” Kusama said, “I think it seems pretty like an exciting choice. I mean, as an actor I would imagine going from something small and kind of maybe more gritty to something a little more, something kind of wilder and just so different in terms of its genre… I think it made perfect sense to me.”

Producer Gale Ann Hurd added, “It’s iconic and physically explosive and she gets to look absolutely beautiful in every frame of the film.”

Karyn Kusama on Not Being Limited to One Particular Genre: “I think the worst thing that happens in film today is that people get pigeon-holed. ‘Okay, well we’ve got a science film, this person does science fiction.’ You know you don’t push the edge of the envelope if you hire someone who just does something like that. And this is much more complicated, a much more challenging film. You don’t want to just go out and get a second unit director who shoots great action. That’s why we got an actor to commit to this like Charlize [Theron] because we had intelligence in the script.”

Karyn Kusama’s Take on the Sci-Fi Genre: “I think for me sci-fi is probably the most fertile genre there is to actually explore ideas about where we live today. You know, I think in times of sort of international crisis, which I feel we are in, sci-fi is where you almost have to go to really explore that stuff with any intelligence. I find that really exciting.”

Karyn Kusama Faces New Challenges with a Bigger Budgeted Film: “I think the biggest challenges end up being about guiding the production towards a short of shared consensus because that’s more what the system demands. And finding a way that everyone can sort of agree, at least enough to get behind the movie, that this is what the movie is. We embrace it and that’s a process that starts in prep, goes through production, and definitely through post. I think it’s a big challenge.

The biggest difference between studio movies and little movies is that there’s just so many more people to have to kind of keep in the mix in the studios.”

Asian Creator, Asian Director, But Not Many Asian Actors in “Aeon Flux:” Karyn Kusama ("Girlfight") admits that is true. “I mean there, in fact, are Asian characters in the film; they were just not highlighted in the clips. I have to admit it’s not something I think a huge amount about. But I know that for ‘Aeon Flux’ we had the opportunity to make a sort of multi-ethnic world that made perfect sense, and we definitely did that. It was exciting to see all those kind of faces on the screen.”