Here are some photos of Charlize Theron at Good Morning America yesterday. She appeared on GMA to promote Mad Max: Fury Road. She talked about some of the same old stuff she’s been talking about for a while, like how she shaved her head for the role, etc. What I find sort of interesting is that Robin Roberts never really says that she thought the film was good or watchable. The only compliment is basically, well, at least you got to play a really strong badass woman. Which is true, I believe Charlize’s character is as tough and badass as any action-dude. Here’s the GMA video:
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What I found most interesting was Charlize talking about the action genre and always wanting to be a part of it, but not in a “here’s the pretty girl in the background” sort of way. Charlize also riffed about the same subject when she appeared on Live with Kelly and Michael, saying:
“I’ve always wanted to explore the genre a little bit more, especially because I think it’s such a misconception that women don’t like the genre, or that they don’t want to go and see these movies. I just feel like women have been so misrepresented in these films — why do we have to go and see the genre every single time with the girl in the back of the frame in a push-up bra? Why isn’t there a girl that’s standing on the same playing field with the guys? We don’t want to be guys, but in a post-apocalyptic world, we will survive! There’s something really, really nice about playing this woman who is a woman, first of all, but is a rogue warrior just like Max, and can fight just as well as Max with one arm. I think all the women — there’s a lot of women in this movie, like three different generations of women in this story, and I think they’re represented really well. And they kick butt.”
I think she’s right. I think she’s been right about this all along, actually, and I have no issue with the way Charlize has talked about the issues of female representation in films (in general) and action films specifically. Women should not be the accessories, sidelined in the action. The female characters should not be just male characters with a name change either. Allow for the possibility that female audiences want to see explosions and action too, and allow for the idea of women being perfectly capable of being violent, mean, aggressive and/or the action star.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
One of the (many) reasons that Alien was so ground-breaking was that a woman largely drove the story line and was the hero at the end. Alien came out in 1979 and there have probably been less then half a dozen action movies since then with women at the helm. Progress? Not much.
Anyone wishes to contradict me, I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
Ripley is one of my favorite film characters of all time. I love Sigourney Weaver.
What I think made Ripley so bad ass, was (at least in the first two films) she was completely terrified, yet still saved herself, the cat, the kid, Bishop, and Hicks.
Yes, and they all star Angelina Jolie. Salt, Wanted, Mr and Mrs Smith, Tombraider franchise…also my guess is the push up bra comment was shade to her boyfriend’s ex, Scarjo. Lol
I’d say it’s more throwing shade at people like Michael Bay.
As for female action characters who are not one dimensional bikini wearing bimbos, a quick look at the filmography of Luc Besson would give you a half a dozen or more, including “Lucy”, none of which starred Angelina Jolie. It’s great to see someone like him getting the success he deserves with his female driven films.
Helen Mirren in both of the “Red” films also comes to mind. She was completely badass.
Forgot to mention “Charlie’s Angels”. It was the guys being saved by the ladies in those films.
There are those who prefer character driven plots to action driven, and of course it’s not based on gender.
Well yes… but that group includes plenty of men too. Just as the action-loving group includes plenty of women. It isn’t drawn along gender lines, but in the world of Hollywood studios, we’re still very much stuck in the 1950’s when it comes to assumptions about gender demographics.
Edit: Just saw your “and of course it’s not based on gender”… not sure if it was there before, but just explaining the context of the caveat I made.
When I worked in marketing for a TV company a few years ago, I was shocked that the sexism wasn’t just condoned; it was REQUIRED. If we were discussing a commercial for laundry detergent and the MAN was doing the cleaning, we had to talk about how it was anomaly and make suggestions that would make it seem “more likely”. If it was an ad for lawn equipment and the woman was cutting the grass instead of gardening, we had to justify that choice. “It will be jarring for viewers, and it will be the thing they remember about the ad.”
Nope, actually. It’s YOU — the executives — who are struggling so much with these gender lines, and in turn perpetuating the divide on a mass platform.
I thought Angelina as Lara Croft would change things… but more than a decade later, here we are. Emily Blunt was fantastic in The Day After Tomorrow, and Charlize seems great in this movie… but still, they’re playing second-fiddle to male leads. Same goes for Gamora and the Black Widow in the Marvel movies… they’re the only women on their teams, and yes they kick butt, but they also have kissing scenes and romantic storylines, because that’s how MEN see WOMEN. It’s not how women see ourselves… we’re not defined by our love lives. In Hollywood executives’ eyes, we are.
Slight correction: Emily Blunt was not in The Day After Tomorrow. She was in Edge of Tomorrow.
The reviews say that she has more lines than Tom Hardy in this film, that it’s really her story.
Edit: it probably helps that it was made by an Australian and outside the Hollywood system
I think this is why so many people had a big problem with Black Widow being suddenly in love with Bruce Banner in Avengers: AoU. It reeked of some executive saying that only female Avenger *had* to have a romantic storyline because that’s why women go to action movies and like action movies: we want the women in the story to have a romance. *BLECH* The Black Widow instaromance was so forced, so rushed, had very little chemistry or plot purpose, and really felt like studio people trying to discern what “the ladies want” and giving us the most pro forma, underwritten version of that. I also think that’s why Hawkeye had a soccer mom wife — because the execs thought “we” would like to see a woman like that in the Avengers, you know, a normal woman who holds down the homefront while the men go and fight. *DOUBLE BLECH*
@Dee – Hawkeye’s wife/kids was actually from part of the line of comics that they’ve been adapting/taking from. And if Marvel ever wants to go DC dark, well, they’re gonna start with Hawkeye…..
Yep , make me laugh and blow something up! The only “girly movie” that I really liked was The Notebook, and I could only watch that once! More women as action leads would be awesome! ( this is coming from a woman who sews, bakes, and has princess tea parties with my girls ;p ) lol
I LOOOVVEEEE action movies. Always have. And, nope, was never even tempted to watch The Notebook or 50 Shades of Dull.
Yes!!! I love crochet and baking but I’m always the first in line for action movies and I also love soccer (and when watching it I usually swear like a sailor, then when the match is over I’m back to being a lady :p )
Me too! My husband proposed to me all over again when I suggested a weekend Arnie movie marathon a few months back. I do love me some ‘splosions. Some of it does stem from an innate hatred of chick flicks too, they are all so sexist and tired. Women may be set dressing in a lot of action movies but at least they’re not a high powered career woman who doesn’t know that all she wants is love and a family. Gag me with a spoon.
I don’t often agree with a lot of what Charlize says but she’s bang on the money with this.
*punches evil henchman*
*sets explosive timers*
*walks towards camera in slow motion with explosions behind me*
But seriously, May/June-August are my happy months for movies. I love the awards baity stuff but good fight scenes and explosions just make me happy on a soul deep level.
ha ha ha agree agree agree!
Love the movies!
*walking one step behind Kali as the cool sidekick as the explosions go off*
I always say my favorite movies have one-liners and swordfights and explosions!
For me, the awesome female action star was Linda Hamilton in T2, Those arms! It stood out for me that the movie posters said Schwarzenegger AND Hamilton’s names above the title.
@ Snazzy – *gives a subtle head nod of approval during mutual walk into the sunset*
@ Amy – Yup, me too! My come to Jesus moment re action movies was actually a Bond movie, namely that bonkers opening parkour/destruction scene of “Casino Royale”. It showed me that if you read it right, action scenes could actually tell you a hell of a lot about the character. My current pop culture action heroine is Lagertha from “Vikings”. Linda Hamilton circa T2 is almost one of those ones that goes without saying.
Nobody pump-loads a shotgun like Linda Hamilton in T2! I have desperately wanted to try that since I first saw the movie. Don’t own any guns though.
Linda Hamilton ! Those arms! Amazing!
I love action/adventure movies. Except for the part where the protagonist is hanging from a high place by the fingertips- that’s when I feel badly about my lack of upper body strength……
It’s my husband who likes the romcoms- I like some high speed chases and explosions!
The reviews for the movie have been great the interviewer probably hasn’t seen it.
it’s not that people don’t think women can be aggressive or ‘bad ass’ it’s that people would complain if a female character in an action movie get beatdown like Batman.
Look at most action movies with females they always beat the hell out of the male character but you never see the female character get hit back. Which is dumb watching the avengers everybody else gets beaten up except Black Widow.
Obviously society frown violence upon women so people aren’t going to line to see Sly Stallone kicking the hell out of some actress in Rambo 13.
Rambo shamer.
Demi Moore was beat up in GI Jane, that movie was kick-ass awesome! I love action films almost exclusively,especially wuxia/kung fu films! Angelina Jolie also doesn’t shy too much from the beat downs.
Yeah, didn’t Sarah Conor/Linda Hamilton also get her fair share of violence in the Terminator movies?
What about Gina Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight?
Emily Blunt was also banged up quite a bit in The Edge of Tomorrow.
The Long Kiss Goodnight is one of my favourite movies ever, ever, ever! We’ve gone backward not forward when it comes to the way that Hollywood depicts women. That much is clear. We need to continue to be vocal about what we want to see in film. Hopefully TPTB are paying attention.
Wolverine beat the crap out of and kills Kelly Hu, in one of the X-Men movies. But they were evenly matched, so perhaps that’s the difference?
There actually are some genuine issues re censorship of male/female violence in movies. The Director of “Mr and Mrs Smith” had a heck of a time with the big Brad/Angie fight. Was fine to see Brad get punched in the face. Vice versa? Not so much. There was a huge amount of editing that went in to make it ok. I have a feeling that’s why a lot of people tend to do the male/male and female/female match ups in movies.
Black widow got smacked around at the start of the first Avengers movie didn’t she? By the Russian guy or whatever?
Her Isabel Marant dress is gorgeous.
I saw the movie today and I loved it (best movie of the year so far in my opinion, better than Age of Ultron). I’m a woman.
Charlize was insanely badass in it and Tom Hardy was THE SEX. I highly recommend it to everyone, even people who usually don’t like action films (I personally can’t watch Transformers and similar movies without falling asleep).
She looks so much better with her hair longer. She’s stunning.
I know Demi Moore gets a bad rap these days, but I loved her roles in movies. G.I. Jane was an excellent movie, and I loved the story line of Demi being one of the test cases for a Navy team similar to the Seals, as the Navy was trying to become gender neutral. She did a fantastic job in that movie. I can’t figure out why she got a Razzie award for that movie.
I loved GI Jane, Demi was awesome. I loved ‘Enough’ and could never figure out why Jen Lopez was razzied for it. Two great movies, both of which I own, and both of which I watch at least once, maybe even twice, yearly!
I think she’s beautiful in a very cold, detached way, but her hair is always her worst attribute. It tends to be thin and dry. I prefer her face with her hair up.
I love PG-13 action films. R-rated ones are usually too brutal for me.
What ticks me off about females heroes is the ridiculous outfits. Who seriously runs around in high heels and loose flowy hair? At least Charlize looks realistic in this, shaved head and boots! And I don’t mean that you have to shave your head to be bad assed, just tie that sh*t up! I seriously love me some action-kung fu movies, but get rid of the high heels! Keep the cat suit, your butt still looks good in flats! Amirite?
This! It bugs me so much when women are dressed stupidly in movies. I get the tight outfits in superhero movies – Captain America’s costume leaves even less to the imagination than Black Widow’s but I will never believe that she would be able to fight with hair in her eyes or that Catwoman would be able to fight anyone in those stilettos AnnE was wearing in The Dark Night Rises. Or that any police detective would be able or even allowed to got to the crime scene and chase bad guys in high heels like Becket in Castle or any female in Criminal Minds or CSI:Wherever.
Yes! This drives me crazy in Castle. I’m like, really, really?
I’m hating the look of Harley Quinn in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. Why is she wearing ridiculous heels in a fight instead of combat boots?
Not to mention hot pants so tight that they could pass as the bottom of a bathing suit.
Yep, that’s totally the look. When I’m heading into the fight of my life, I don’t want to be wearing combat boots and leather pants – oh no. It’s high heels and a bathing suit for me!
The heels always killed it for me too – anyone serious about kicking butt is not going to wear heels like that.
Couldn’t agree more. Don’t even get me started on how gamer heroines are depicted. It’s like sure, she’s wearing gauntlets, shoulder armor and shin guards and then a teeny-tiny fur bikini or a strip of cloth arranged just so and I just . . . face palm.
I think it’s a trade off for women in these type of films. Even Ripley got plenty of shots in her tiny bikini panties and braless in tank tops. I’m not saying it’s fair, but that seems to be the way of it.
I love that reviewers are saying Charlize is the best part of the movie and steals it from Tom Hardy. That overhyped pretentious jerk gets a pass for being a difficult because he’s a man. Charlize is getting raves! Charlize also had a great quote recently about girls needing to know that being a feminist is a good thing. A drop dead gorgeous, strong woman who is also amazingly talented. Can we say girl crush?
I saw it and even though Charlize is great in it, Tom is just as good. They have great chemistry and work TOGETHER. Can we stop pitting co-stars against each other?
The critics said it not me. I’m glad because I can’t stand that women get vilified for the least little thing, but men like Tom Hardy get a pass for being difficult jerks and people just see them as edgy and cool.
Why does it matter if she’s gorgeous or not?
How is he overhyped and pretentious? Plus there are tonnes of women who act like dicks in hollywood and get away with it.
I adore action movies and Sarah Connor (the original!!) and Ellen Ripley remain the gold standard.
Anyone see that Disney/Marvel/Hasbro continue to suck? In the movie the motorcycle that comes out of the airplane is ridden by Black Widow. For the toy? It’s Captain America.
Don’t worry though there’s another version of the motorcycle toy…ridden by Iron Man…who can fly..????
Go to hell Hasbro.
+1 on all of this. I love bad a$$ women, from Ripley to Sarah Connor to Buffy to Agent May! I’ll take action movies over romantic or weepy movies anyway (and yes, I’m a middle-aged mom).
And even though it’s slightly off topic I have to echo what you said about Disney/Marvel/Hasbro. I didn’t mind the movie storyline for Black Widow much but the complete removal of her from the toy lines is beyond offensive. And my daughter was a bigger fan of the Avengers than my son and really wants Scarlet Witch toys!
Seriously? WTF Disney/Marvel/Hasbro? I mean just how far are there heads up their asses?
She’s absolutely right. And I’m really looking forward to seeing this movie!!
A few years ago I saw one of the Mission Impossible films and for the 1st time ever left the theater feeling like blowing things up and jumping out the cars and helicopters. It was beautiful.
I saw her on Fallon last night and she seemed high as a kite. I mean really out of it for a large part of the segment. I don’t know..is she known for that kind of thing?
I just saw another website comment on this as well. Guess it wasn’t just me. Clicknews
I saw it. She seemed really happy to me and maybe a little tipsy. She has said she gets really nervous in front of live audiences so she has a few cocktails before going on. Plus she’s a fun gal. Her and Jimmy were dressing up in ridiculous outfits. When she’s not being so fun, people want to accuse her of coming across as a bitch or ice queen. She can’t win.
Ain’t it funny that her boyfriend’s last geri-action movie bombed in the BO, showing that it takes more than an old guy in steroids with no charm and no likability to make a success? Penn humiliated himself and years of career with The Gunman, I think he lost money too, since he was a co-writer and a producer. Good.
No one cares about The Gunman bombing. It doesn’t change that he’s a two-time Oscar winner and one of the most respected actors. He’s a man and considered an actor’s actor, so it won’t mean anything. He never built his career on box office. It’s more embarrassing when Will Smith or Tom Cruise bomb.
I love action movies and I’ve been eager to see this one. Can’t wait until it comes out in my theater.
I think regarding Action films when more women actually carry the film with their name and it makes money; they will continue to be the 2nd wheel. It is all about profit. Not just Domestic but International. You have to appeal to audiences all over the world. And with that come CLOUT. CLOUT to have a say in the script. The costumes you will or will not wear. Clout. The vast majority of these women don’t have that. They don’t get asked what they like or what they don’t. They don’t have a say in the Director. Angie is in a vary rare position. She has that kind of Clout. Clout to get her character killed off in Wanted. They agreed and shot themselves in the foot. Clout to say she didn’t want to play a “Bond Girl” but want to play her own version of Bond..which she did in Salt. She is never the 2nd wheel even when she is the supporting character. Because she has that CLOUT and International pull. Until women have that and can have say in all of this then nothing is going to change. They may have to start by now accepting these roles and demand more to them. That would be the beginning. Clout is not about how pretty you are or sexy or how many awards you win. It is about Profit and can you put asses in the seats.
Her reasoning is why there isn’t a female superhero. They don’t work because they aren’t written properly and women don’t want to watch a patronising version of what men think women are.
So, exactly whose conception is it that “women don’t like the action genre”?? Did I miss a committee meeting? Maybe it’s just the circles I travel in, but I’ve never heard anything along those lines. The statement’s reaching a bit, and also kind of irksome. Sometimes I like the old style actors who say, “I learn my lines, I hit my marks, and they pay me.” The ones who don’t take it too seriously.
That’s what Hollywood studios think, and they hold the purse strings.
As for Mad Max FR… I love that she’s the lead too. I read that Miller brought Eve Ensler in for a week to spend time with the “five wives.” People going in expecting Fast and Furious 8 are going to get the Vagina Monologues too.