Charlize Theron: Bowled Over

Q: Is being here bumming you out?

A: No, I'm so over it. Nothing could depress me now. I'm madly in love.

Q: Who's the guy?

A: [Actor] Craig Bierko, who'll be in Sour Grapes next year. We've been together for a year.

Q: Can I expect a wedding invite in the mail soon?

A: I know I'll get married one day, but that's not something I want right now. My life is pretty perfect. I'm working on stuff that I want to work on, and I'm so in love. So I'm like, "Why fuck with a good thing?"

Q: How did he deal with your love scenes with Keanu?

A: He's been very supportive. If you're smart you'll be very supportive, and if you're stupid you'll cause a big issue. Craig has been very, very smart.

Q: Where did you meet him?

A: At the premiere of The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Q: My friend calls it The Long Kiss My Ass.

A: I changed 2 days in the valley to 2 years in high heels because the shoes were killing me.

Q: Speaking of doozy titles, your next movie is Mighty Joe Young. No offense, but gorilla flicks haven't exactly been packing people into theaters lately.

A: Aren't you Mr. Positive!

Q: Well, look at Rene Russo in Buddy.

A: I didn't see it.

Q: Exactly.

A: I'll be honest with you--I wasn't going to do it. I read the script and thought, "I've never pictured myself doing a movie like this." Director Ron Underwood didn't even want to see me for it because he saw 2 days and said, "We want someone who's very natural." My agent finally got me a meeting. When he made the offer I was really surprised. I waited a week before I said yes, because I thought, "I'm not going to do this just because it's the lead and it's for Disney." Then I went to a couple of banquets for animal cruelty and realized it could be great to make a movie you could walk away from and say, "Some people will do anything and everything to save an animal and it's OK."

Q: What was your worst audition?

A: After my third film, Trial and Error, I went in for a small cameo in an independent film that I thought was quite brilliant. The character was a prostitute, but she comes across as this innocent little girl, so I wore a sundress and didn't wash my face or hair.

Q: So if you ever look like shit, it's because you're auditioning?

A: [Theron doesn't blink as she scores her second strike in a row] Right. So I read for the part and they said thank you. Afterward, when the director was giving my agent the feedback, he said, "Why didn't Charlize wear any underwear?"

Q: Did you just forget?

A: I never wear a dress without panties. What, like I'm trying to show my crotch off to everybody? Someone actually thought I would go into a two-scene cameo audition for an independent film that was probably going to pay me butt-fucking nothing, and not wear underwear. God, I hope I never see those people again.

Q: What's the lowest point you've had in your life?

A: I was in New York in '93 studying ballet at the Joffrey when I got a knee injury. My mother was visiting me and I didn't want her to think I was unhappy because if she found out she'd send me home. But every single day she was there I broke down because I realized performing was being taken away from me. My mom said, "What do you want to do?" I said I wanted to be an actress, but didn't know how to do it. She said, "How will you know unless you buy a one-way ticket to Hollywood and try it?"

Q: Didn't you live at the cheesy hotel the Farmer's Daughter when you arrived in L.A.?

A: Yeah, I lived there for about a month. I had no money. Somehow a survival thing inside me kicked in and I said to myself, "You're going to make this happen because if this doesn't work out, your ass is going back to South Africa and you're going to work in a supermarket."

Q: Ever see any weird things at the Farmer's Daughter?

A: I saw the same guy bring three different women back to the hotel within six hours.

Q: Wait, that was me!

A: Actually, no. I'm dating that guy now--just kidding.

Q: Was losing your virginity a thumbs-up or thumbs-down experience?

A: I don't know if it was thumbs-up, but it wasn't terribly traumatic. I was a late bloomer and I ended up at a point where it was like, "Enough already! I gotta get rid of it because it's driving me crazy."

Q: Didn't your mom explain the facts of life to you after taking you to see Fatal Attraction?

A: Yeah. My mom would take me to the drive-in on weekends and we never knew what was showing until we got there. So one night we were watching Fatal Attraction and all this shit was happening and she realized that this was the time to let me know what it was all about.

Q: She warned you there were men with flat asses like Michael Douglas?

A: Exactly.

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