‘Monster’ Actress Turns Sexy Super-Heroine

Halle Berry as the titular super-feline in “Catwoman.” Gwyneth Paltrow as an aspiring flight attendant in “View from the Top.” Nicole Kidman as that nose-twitching innocent in “Bewitched.” Over the past few years, some of Hollywood’s Oscar-winning leading ladies quickly segued from Academy Awards for Best Actress to undemanding roles in critically panned movies.

Should Charlize Theron—2004 Oscar Winner for her phenomenal performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in “Monster”—be added to the list, as she tackles the role of the titular super-heroine in MTV Films’ “Aeon Flux”?

A confident and optimistic Theron does not think so, as she states in a recent conference call: “You cannot compare a film like ‘Aeon Flux’ to ‘North Country’ or ‘Monster’….I mean, they are different genres and you have to celebrate them for that.”

Theron, born in South Africa, is an actress most noted for her work in dramatic films, such as the recent “North Country.” “Aeon Flux,”—a science-fiction movie based on Peter Chung’s early ’90’s MTV series—is a marked departure. The movie chronicles the action-packed struggle of the sexy, leather-clad secret agent Aeon Flux as she works to fracture the warped state of Bregna.

Director Karyn Kusama, described by Theron as “very much a visionary,” is also a newcomer to the fantasy genre, having only directed the critically acclaimed drama “GirlFight.” Theron believes that her and Kusama’s status as sci-fi novices contributed significantly to “Flux”’s production.

To Theron, Kusama was able to move past the genre surface to more deeply explore the nuances of her film’s characters and themes. Theron notes: “I find a lot of times that element of humanity is kind of missing in these kinds of stories, and that so much focus gets placed on just the visual and just the futuristic aspect of it that the human core of it is always lost.”

It is this idea of a “human core” that first drew Theron to the complex character of Aeon Flux, whom Theron says she deems a “very different kind of a female superhero.” While the character is a crime-fighter attempting to restore order and combat injustice in the future, Theron notes that she “sometimes did not think of this as a futuristic film at all,” and that the character “was very real” to her. Flux is “constantly…challenging the world that she lives in.”

The social significance of the film is enticing to Theron, who believes that it is a film about “a bigger mission.” As a politically and socially aware actor, Theron states, “The whole film is really about questioning your government and I think right now in this day and age…the majority of America is doing that.”

“Flux” premiered on MTV’s “Liquid Television” program as a six-part short-film series in 1991. The series was noted for its lack of dialogue and narrative continuity, making its transition to film somewhat difficult.

The desire to stay true to Chung’s vision and style was a primary focus throughout the production. Theron says, “I wanted him to see it like we were being authentic to what he created….I really truly feel that people who do love the show will not be disappointed.”

Partially to stay true to Chung’s animated version of the title character, Theron devoted herself to hours of intense physical exercise each day, wanting “to go and push [her] body to those limits to actually learn the skills.” A trained graduate from the school of the Joffrey Ballet in New York City, Theron channeled her prior dance experience.

Although she suffered a herniated disk in her neck while doing a back handspring in fall 2004, and production shut down for about seven weeks to allow for the star’s recovery, a healed and mentally rejuvenated Theron returned ready as ever to bring Flux to life, determined to do her own physical work: “That was so much a part of the character for me that I could not imagine just having stunt people do it.”

“Flux” is a new experience for a daring and hopeful Theron, who understands that the prediction of cinematic successes and failures is not really a science. She states: “There is no formula that really works.”

Regardless of how critics perceive Theron’s role in “Flux,” the experience is already a personal success for the actress, who has adhered to her role-selecting creed: “The most important thing always has just been to be true to myself and to do work that really means something to me.”

For her sake, she should keep that self-aware motto and remember it’s a slippery slope from the Academy Awards to flopped action movies.