SA 'taught Charlize discipline'
2008-06-30 09:40
London - Oscar winner Charlize Theron believes her South African childhood helped her with the discipline necessary for difficult roles like that of Aileen Wuornos, the serial killer in Monster.
"I tried to establish a link between Aileen and her experiences as a child when I remembered something that had happened to me when I was five years old."
"We were driving somewhere when all the cars stopped because a truck had fallen over and caught fire. A man was trapped in the vehicle."
"Everone in South Africa carries a firearm and he pleaded for someone to shoot him, because he didn't want to burn to death. Nobody could get him out and someone shot him."
"It was terrible, but one of those moments that taught me the value of life," Theron said in an interview with The Observer on Sunday.
Her film Hancock, also starring Will Smith, has started showing in South Africa.
Theron also explained why she was not afraid of tackling roles in which she did not look attractive.
"Why do we have to be embarrassed to show different sides? Why should we be only one thing: a good mother or a prostitute?
"I don't think that what lies under my clothes, is evil. I am a woman and I am feminine. I like how I look and I celebrate it. I don't apologise for it."