Charlize Theron is done letting men dictate her fashion choices onscreen.
The actress, who is set to star in Netflix’s The Old Guard 2 and The School For Good and Evil, recalled an experience with an unnamed male director who she said had her attend multiple costume fittings in an attempt to sexualize both her and her character.
“I remember one movie in particular, this male director who just kept bringing me in, fitting after fitting after fitting,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “And it was just so obvious that it was to do with my sexuality and how f—able they could make me in the movie. And when I started out, that was just kind of the norm.”
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images Charlize Theron
Earlier in the interview, Theron shared that she had been irked by men making decisions about her outfits since the beginning of her career.
“Having absolutely no control over what you’re wearing is a big one that really f—ing annoyed me for years,” she said. “Having some guy make you have a fitting almost in front of them — stuff like that, it’s really belittling.”
Theron added that there was “no conversation” around the outfit selection process at all when she was first starting out. Instead, she said, “It was like, ‘This is what you’re wearing.'”
While starring in the 2003 film Monster, Theron recalled trying to protect Patty Jenkins‘ vision after getting the feeling that its financiers were more interested in creating “a hot lesbian movie with me and Christina Ricci.” She founded her own production company, Denver & Delilah, the same year.
“There’s a natural fight in me to want to create environments that feel like the things that I wish I had 30 years ago when I started,” she shared. Theron is a producer on the forthcoming Old Guard sequel and revealed that its cast and crew consisted of 85 percent women.
When it comes to being a producer, Theron acknowledged, “I don’t always get it right.” Still, she added, “I am very aware of looking at the big picture and saying, ‘Is this really the best we can do?'”
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