2nd Oscar nod stuns Charlize
2006-02-14 10:00
Los Angeles - South African movie actress Charlize Theron said on Monday she was stunned at winning her second Oscar nomination in as many years, saying the honour was "insanely flattering".
Ice-blonde beauty Theron, 30, is nominated this year as best actress for her turn as a female miner in the drama North Country, just two years after winning an Academy Award for playing a serial killer in Monster.
"It's crazy!," she said at the 25th annual Oscar nominees' luncheon in Beverly Hills.
"It's insane the first time around and then, honestly ... never in a million years did I ever in my dreams ... "
"It's a little like I somehow got locked in the candy store and nobody knows I'm there - and I'm having a really good time," she quipped.
Raising the bar
But the actress insisted that she did not choose her roles based on whether they had a chance of winning her another Oscar, saying that her goal was to remain a working actress with longevity in Hollywood.
"I don't look for parts that are Oscar worthy because I think at the end of the day, what is that really?
"I just want to work with a good director on good material," she said adding that previous Oscar winners raised the bar for performers and "that makes you go up there and want to raise the bar even more".
Theron, a former model and ballerina who arrived in Hollywood from her home country less than a decade ago, said the political flavour of this year's Oscars competition was a indicative of what was going on in the world.
Reflecting on society
"I think that's our job as filmmakers - to reflect what going on the world. The world out here is crazy right now," she said.
This year's crop of nominated pictures up for awards on March 5 include the oil industry drama Syriana, Munich, the story of the aftermath of the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics and Paradise Now, a deeply controversial Palestinian movie about suicide bombers.
"This year has proven to make those kind of films you don't need to make them feel like medicine, you can make them powerful and still entertaining," Theron said, adding that the appetite of audiences always decided what films would be made.
In North Country, Theron plays the lead role of a miner who launches the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States.