"People thought of me as someone who was f**king depressing"- When Charlize Theron opened up about joining Arrested Development

Charlize Theron has had one of the most impressive careers in the last decades. From her stints in successful action films to her Oscar and Golden Globe-winning performances, the actress has done it all. Currently 49, Theron barely has anything left to achieve, but she continues to impress in a variety of roles.

While it is true that Charlize Theron specializes in certain roles, she has attempted a lot more than most would. One of these surprising roles that she took up was in the television series Arrested Development, where she was present for a full arc. She was asked about this surprising decision in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where the actress revealed why she picked this role and why she needed it.

Charlize Theron responded to this question, saying:

"It was one of the scariest things, to walk onto a set of a show that’s so developed and so brilliant. But I think I needed that, to put myself out there in a different way, because people thought of me as someone who was f**king depressing, like my mother shot my father."

Theron's mother was not charged for shooting her father to death after he came home drunk and physically attacked Theron and her mother. The shooting was legally adjudged to have been self-defense.

She further expanded on why she needed Arrested Development, and claimed that she already knew Aeon Flux was going to be a flop for her.

"I knew it from the beginning, that’s why I did Arrested Development"- Charlize Theron breaks down her decision to do the TV show

When it comes to being honest, Charlize Theron does not hold back at all. In the same interview, while discussing her decision to join Arrested Development, the actress made her feelings clear about Aeon Flux, which she claimed she knew would not work out, which became all the more reason for her to pick up the role in the series.

She expanded:

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"And I just f**king loved that show, and this is going to sound so “poor me,” but I do feel like sometimes, as women, we get one shot and I knew that [the 2005 action flick] Aeon Flux was going to be a f**king flop. I knew it from the beginning, that’s why I did Arrested Development."

She was asked in response about what she did when she knew she was doing a project like Aeon Flux, which was bound to fail.

She responded, saying:

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"You fight until the bitter end. With that one, I don’t know if I had the answers for how to [fix it], but I definitely knew we were in trouble. I wasn’t a producer on it, and I didn’t really have the experience to say what I believe Tom Cruise has maybe said for the past 20 years, which is, “Shut this s**t down, get four more writers on it and let’s figure this out.”"

Aeon Flux ended up earning only $52.3 million, which was less than the budget it was made on. It also received a dismal critical response.

But Charlize Theron's decisions meant she continued to remain relevant one way or another, slowly forming an identity that would go down in the history books of Hollywood.

Theron is soon set to appear in The Old Guard 2, The Odyssey, and Apex.

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