Charlize Theron Interview For Jason Reitman’s ‘Young Adult’

Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either. ’Young Adult’ reunites Jason Reitman, Academy Award nominated director of ‘Juno,’ and Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film is set for release in December 9th in the US, and Febuary 10th in the UK.

What was the initial appeal of working on ‘Young Adult’?

Charlize Theron: The initial thing that kicked it off for me was Jason Reitman, because I secretly had been kind of stalking him, and I didn’t get locked up for it – but I‘m sure he has a restraining order against me (laughs). It was the year that ‘Up in the Air’ came out, it was during the whole awards season stuff that I came across him. I just remember, vividly, watching that film and being jealous of Vera Farmiga and then going, “God, I’d love to work with this guy!” And so when he came to me, before I’d even read the script, he said , “I read this thing and I think it’s going to be my next movie, would be you be interested?” I was pretty much there. Then reading this character, Mavis, and thinking about the combination of discovering this woman, with someone like him, it was just like Willy Wonka and the golden ticket.

Mavis must have been an incredible character to play and put together?

Charlize Theron: Yeah, I love characters that keep you constantly on your toes. There’s nothing easy about her, there’s nothing comfortable about her. And in a way that’s what made her so incredible to kind of be in. I think she’s one of those characters that….in a way I only scratched the surface with, you know? We need to make a sequel to really kind of get into who she really is (laughs). The whole experience of making the film, it was one of the best experiences that I’d ever had.

How was that experience, and what reaction have you got from people who have seen it?

Charlize Theron: These moves are my favourite to make. You shoot them in 30 days, you have a really small crew – it’s a little like packing up and joining the circus (laughs). And I just love that, I really love it. There’s a camaraderie, a real family feeling about it. In many ways I think everyone was endeared to her, it was really nice when you work on a set and everybody really likes what they’re doing. We all had a laugh every once in a while, trying to push the envelope with her, saying the most outrageous thing we possibly could. The spirit of the movie, I’ve come to realise it frees people, to come up to you and acknowledge things I don’t think they would acknowledge normally about things that they have done that is very Mavis like (laughs).

With your character being so outrageous and engrossing, it must have been a fine line for you fellow actors. How was it working with and bouncing off the likes of Patton Oswalt, Collette Wolfe and Patrick Wilson?

Charlize Theron: Patton Oswalt, which I think everyone knows him from his stand-up comedy, is a real actor. And I’m so glad he’s in this film because you can actually see that he’s not a stand-up comedian, he’s really an actor. There are moments in this film when I watch him, that remind me of when I first saw Philip Seymour Hoffman on screen. I think he’s going to have an incredible career after this.

One of my favourite scenes in the film is with Collette Wolfe, who plays Patton’s sister. She’s really an incredible character, she’s set up in a really powerful way – because in many ways, she decides how the film is gonna go, where it’s going to veer. But she’s an incredible actress who had a really difficult job, and she pulls it off. I never get to work with a lot of woman, so that day was one of my favourite days, to just sit at that kitchen table and get to do what we had to do.

Somebody that I’ve been somewhat obsessed with is Patrick Wilson, I’ve always wanted to work with him. I remember seeing ‘Little Children,’ after seeing that I had to work with this guy, he’s so amazing. Everybody has got really challenging roles in this film, because Mavis is such a train wreck, it’s really hard for other characters to kind of keep it together around her. They all walked a really fine line, and I don’t think I could have done what I had to with Mavis without that support. It was an incredible cast.