Theron went on to explain, "The thing I found really interesting the first night I got together with the real women and they started telling us some of the stories of what had happened to them, it was almost disturbing. They would tell these horrible stories in this very humorous way. I had to really think about it and then I realized, I think it was a way they could protect themselves. If they could laugh about it, then somehow it wasn't affecting them as much. I thought that was incredibly powerful. Then without even thinking about it when we started working on this material that's what happened to us, to every single woman on this. Sometimes we kind of had to look at each other and go, ‘This is so wrong,’ because you think you are dealing with such a serious topic and you should be furious about it all the time. The only healthy way to get through it was to laugh about some of these horrible things.
There were days where we would be in that mine and man, some of that dialogue, just constantly. Constantly you are hearing these horrible things. There was a part of me that became like those women where I had to laugh about it in order for it not to affect me as much. So, yeah our a** was for grabs during the day when the camera rolled and then when it didn't, I grabbed a**es back. It made me feel a lot better about it - and the boys were very accommodating.”
Charlize Theron on the State of Sexual Harassment in Today’s Society: “Niki and I talked about this extensively. We both feel like we have been very fortunate in our lives to not deal with those circumstances. And in many ways that's a part of this whole issue, that you can say we have come a long way because I feel very fortunate. But it's dangerous because I sit back, before this film came to me, and think, 'God, things are so great for women. I've got a great life. I've never felt like I've been treated unequal because of my sex.' Then you read this kind of story and I became fascinated by it, and I really wanted to know what was really going on out there. You start hearing about these cases today in big cities like Chicago or Dallas and you realize that you can't just sit back and think that things are great, just because your life is this fortunate.
These things are still happening out there and the biggest thing that really hit me was that this was a landmark case that changed the law. We should try and change the law, but that doesn't mean that we change how people think overnight. That takes a long time and that's why we can't stop this fight right now. We've still got a long way to go.”
Charlize Theron on Accepting This Role and Telling This Particular Story: “We tell human stories and even though I feel fortunate that I've never experienced any of that stuff, I am a woman. I understand that these things are real. And so, for me, there is compassion because I am a woman and I know that these things do happen. The only thing I know is to personalize it for myself and even though I've never experienced it, I have experienced other things in my life that have affected me in a very painful way. It's called substitution and I use that in my work.
To be with these women, and I spent so much time with them, they were with us on the entire film. We brought them [in]. They are threaded throughout the entire story. Every time you see us they are somewhere around there. To have them around me and to look at them and be able to say, 'Is this real? Is this what happened?' And to see their catharsis was just so powerful for me. I don't think that it was hard for me to understand it because I hadn't experienced it. It's not hard for me to look at those women and realize what happened to them. I see them with their kids and I see how it affected their children and how it affected their families.
This wasn't something that happened in the workplace and then they left it behind and they went home and they were peaceful. This bled into their everyday society. They went to the grocery store [and] they had to face these people. I think that is the thing that just kind of kills you. Knowing that it doesn't just affect a certain part of your life. It affects every single aspect of your life.
I read the story and felt incredibly…I felt it was something I had to do because I had been so fortunate. Not because I related and said, 'I've had this story happen to me.' But because I've been so fortunate I have to tell the stories.”
Part 2: Charlize Theron on Frances McDormand and Difficult Roles
