March 12, 2008 - By now, audiences are used to seeing the gorgeous Charlize Theron glam down for roles. Theron says that it’s not about the transformation so much for her as it is getting into the meat of a character by changing her style to match the role. “It’s about finding a story that you emotionally tap into and then servicing that story as the best as you possibly can,” explained Theron.
In the dramatic movie Sleepwalking, Theron plays the unmarried and basically unfit mother of 12-year-old Tara (AnnaSophia Robb). Booted from their home after her boyfriend’s arrested for growing marijuana, Joleen invades her brother’s apartment, moving in without asking and then just as quickly vanishing for what she says will be no longer than a month. Claiming in a letter that she has a plan to put her life in order, Joleen leaves Tara in her brother’s care, promising to return in month. However, with her mother out of the picture, Tara's yanked from her uncle's house and placed in a foster care facility. Joleen's personal troubles are no match for what happens to her daughter and brother during her absence.
Joleen’s personal style reflects her ‘lower-class, looking for a man’ lifestyle. Talking about Joleen’s wardrobe, Theron said, “I loved it, yeah. It felt very comfortable and felt very real and yeah, there’s no denying putting that on and really feeling like you’re Joleen.”
That the wardrobe and makeup helped was a good thing as Theron doesn’t personally know anyone like her character in Sleepwalking. “I don’t personally, no, but you know I observe a lot of people. I observe those kinds of people. I don’t know them personally but I’ve watched them,” offered Theron.
“You know, it’s an understanding of the world,” explained Theron about the process of finding Joleen. “It’s kind of like going in there and doing the research and really, I think more than anything, understanding what that kind of damage does to somebody and how they retaliate. I mean, I’d done a lot of that kind of research when I played Eileen [in Monster and also Josey Aimes from North Country. There’s definitely a correlation between those women. It’s interesting when you really kind of study how people deal with a traumentulous past. I mean some kind of turmoil within the family or some kind of an abuse. I think it’s fascinating to kind of study how different people respond to it, so it really kind of came from that, you know? I’ve always been fascinating by it, so I’ve read a lot of books on it, actually. And I guess it’s not hard for me to understand it. It’s kind of effortless for me to understand it. More challenging to actually go execute it, but I understand it very much.”
Theron not only stars in Sleepwalking but also worked as a producer on the film. Initially, the project sparked her interest after she and her producing partner, Beth Kono, read the script. They both liked the story, but Theron didn’t go forward and sign on until she spoke to her producing mentors. “I always kind of talk to them about projects that I’m thinking about and I brought this up to a few of them - who I highly regard their opinion - and they said, ‘You know you’re asking for trouble.’ And it’s true. These projects are incredibly hard to make. I think independent filmmaking has changed. We make independent films now for $25 million. So, it’s tough to get the ones below 5, below 4, especially when you’re talking about somewhat high risk — what they consider high risk — material. But for me it was just like after an experience like Monster, which was considered high risk material, and that movie grossed close to $40 million, as a producer I just kind of felt I can’t get stuck in that. If I’m emotionally tapped into something, I’ve got to go by that guide. So we slowly started searching around for financing and we were incredibly lucky. I mean really, really lucky. We met with a company, FilmEngine, A.J. Dix, and he immediately just responded to the material, and we really needed that. We weren’t going to find a financier that was going to invest in this because it was going to make a lot of money. We needed somebody who really kind of tapped into it the same way we did, and so we couldn’t have asked for better financiers.”
An important aspect of producing Sleepwalking was being a part of the casting process. Screen veteran Dennis Hopper plays Joleen’s father, a terror of a man who abused his kids verbally and physically. Theron says Hopper was in fact her first choice for the role. “When I read it, his face came to mind and I tend to do that quite a bit when I read material. You know, the imagination goes a little crazy and I start seeing people’s faces and his was definitely… I mean, just from the first page, that first dinner scene because it needed somebody with great charisma and yet at the same time this kind of undertone of just complete fear, and he does that so well.”
Getting Nick Stahl to play her brother was also, according to Theron, a case of nabbing her first choice for a role. “That came from a long time of actually just wanting to work with him as an actor,” explained Theron. “And when I read it, I just thought that that was a really great dynamic for the two of us to work together on that. And he came on board really early on, I mean, I had this project around probably for four years and he came on board like a year and a half before we even had the financing sorted out, and really remained incredibly passionate about it.”
Page 2: Charlize Theron on Casting AnnaSophia Robb and Hancock
