Charlize Theron calls Hollywood ‘caveman-like’ for not allowing women to star in big-budget films
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The INSIDER Summary: Charlize Theron calls Hollywood "caveman-like" for rarely allowing women to work with big-budget films. The actress praises Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton for leading the way as heroines in the "Alien" and "Terminator" films, but says that the momentum has never carried far enough to allow women to break through. Theron stars in "Atomic blonde," out in theaters August 9. Charlize Theron has branded Hollywood "caveman-like" for rarely allowing women to command big-budget films.
The Oscar-winner stars as an MI6 agent in Atomic Blonde, a role which she says she sustained various injuries for, including cracking two teeth.
Theron, 41, praised on-screen hard-women Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton, who led the way as heroines in the Alien and Terminator films in the Seventies and Eighties.
But she said the momentum has never carried far enough to allow women to break through in such roles.
“We’ve had moments like this, where women really showcase themselves and kind of break glass ceilings. And then we don’t sustain it,” she told US magazine Variety.
“Or there’s one movie that doesn’t do well, and all of a sudden, no one wants to make a female-driven film. I am ashamed that I’m part of an industry that has never allowed a woman to work with a budget higher than what the budget has been on Wonder Woman.
“That’s so f***ing caveman-like. I am always hoping that this is the movie that’s going to change it and keep it for us.”
Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman this year became the highest-grossing film directed by a woman, making more than $746 million on a budget of about $149 million.
Theron, who won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster, co-stars in Atomic Blonde, set in the Cold War, with James McAvoy. The film is out on August 9.
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