Move over Liz Taylor!
2004-03-03 11:27
Johannesburg - Charlize Theron, who sparked a national frenzy when she won the Best Actress Oscar, will now have a semi-precious stone named after her, a daily said on Wednesday.
Steven Fine, a marketing manager for a jeweller based in Midrand, near Johannesburg, told The Star newspaper that he got the idea while he was watching the Oscar awards ceremony on TV.
The stone - a newly discovered variety of amazonite with a quartz grain - was found last week at a mine in Chalaua in Mozambique. Fine has decided to name it the "Star of Charlize".
The stone will be turned into jewellery and presented to Theron when she returns to South Africa next week.
Red carpet treatment
Theron will jet into a hero's welcome when she arrives in Johannesburg this weekend.
President Thabo Mbeki, who sent an effusive note saying that "we are all immensely proud of this, our South African daughter, and wish her well", is hoping that she will be able to squeeze him into her busy schedule next week.
David Hlabane of Mbeki's office told Sapa that they were hoping he would be able to meet her at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday although nothing had been finalised yet.
"We are very excited. It's a great achievement and the president would like to create an opportunity to celebrate with her."
And a statement from former president Nelson Mandela's office humbly said: "...if Charlize finds time in her busy schedule whilst visiting SA next week, he would like to see her to congratulate her personally."
Meanwhile, Duma Nkosi, the mayor of the Ekurhuleni council, which administers the Putfontein plots outside Benoni where she hails from, has also submitted a request to arrange a function in her honour.
In demand
"We are very happy for her. We sent a message to her and she has put Benoni on the map through hard work and dedication," said Nkosi's spokesperson Prince Hamnca.
"She is a huge motivating factor for young South Africans."
However, Hamnca said he had been told that there had been at least 700 requests for meetings with her and they had not had anything confirmed yet.
Nu-Metro publicist Jarred Krombein, the person juggling many of the requests said: "Since she won the phone hasn't stopped ringing."
He said she is expected to arrive from Los Angeles on either Saturday or Sunday and will be "officially" in South Africa from Monday.
She will get the full star treatment of limousines and 24-hour bodyguards and her Johannesburg and Cape Town bases will be a closely guarded secret, Krombein said.
She has optimistically requested a low-key visit and has set aside only half of her five-day visit for public engagements, spending the rest on a privately arranged itinerary.
Hasty screening
Because of the limited time, a list of requests for interviews and appearances had been submitted to her office in Los Angeles where her publicity team will whittle it down to a "select" few, Krombein said.
Meanwhile, a hasty screening of the film has been arranged in Benoni, after it had originally been bypassed.
It was reported that the movie was considered too highbrow for the small town, east of Johannesburg, but Nu-Metro has denied this.
Krombein said that only 15 copies of the film had arrived in the country and to ensure the widest possible audience, the distributor had placed it in cinemas that served very large areas.
However, a copy has now been sent off to the cinema at the Lakeside Mall, Krombein said. - Sapa