Charlize Theron at the premiere of "Sleepwalking" held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, Calif. on March 6, 2008.

Also a producer on the film, Charlize Theron, along with her young co-star, AnnaSophia Robb, spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about making an independent film with such a heavy, realistic subject matter.               

MediaBlvd Magazine> Charlize, how did you first come across this project?

Charlize Theron> It was material that was submitted to my company and my producing partner, Beth Kono, read it. And then, I read it. We really liked it. We had a couple of things going, at the time, and I have a few great producing mentors, in the business, who I always talk to them about projects that I’m thinking about. I brought this up to a few of them, whose opinions I highly regard, and they said, “You’re asking for trouble.” And it’s true. These projects are incredibly hard to make. Independent filmmaking has changed. We make independent films now for $25 million. So, it’s tough to get the ones made that are below 4 or 5, especially when you’re talking about what they consider somewhat high-risk material. But, for me, after an experience like Monster, which was considered high-risk material, and that movie grossed close to $40 million, as a producer, I just feel like, if I’m emotionally tapped into something, I have to go by that guide. So, we slowly started searching around for financing, and we were incredibly lucky. We weren’t going to find a financier that was going to invest in this because it was going to make a lot of money. We needed somebody who really tapped into the materia. the same way we did, and so, we couldn’t have asked for better financiers.

MediaBlvd> What was it about this script that made you want to produce the film, as well as take a role in it?

Charlize> It just stayed with me. When I read material, I either tap into something, or I don’t. Usually, you can tell the next morning. When you wake up, if you’re still thinking about it because something scares you or stays with you, that’s usually a good sign. I felt it was beautifully written, and it wasn’t a watered-down version of a dysfunctional family. It was pretty real, as far as being authentic towards families out there, who are in these situations. And, it carried a philosophy that I really believe in, which is that, at the end of the day, you have to be responsible for your own life. I like that it had that message. I didn’t want these people to wallow in self-pity, and then hope everybody had sympathy for them. I  wanted them to stand up, and wake up, at some point, and realize that they are the driver of the bus. But, as an actor, I liked how flawed Jolene was. I thought there was something really challenging in taking a character who, within the first 10 minutes of the film, does something really hard to forgive, and try to play that as authentic, real and truthful as possible, while being very much aware of the circumstances that this woman is in. And, hopefully, the story services why she is the way she is.

MediaBlvd> Was it always your intention to be such a hands-on producer, unlike some people who just take the credit without doing the work?

Charlize> I think that’s something that happened around 10 years ago, with people throwing their names on credits for vanity. But, there’s a few people out there, like Drew Barrymore, that I know go out there and do it. At the end of the day, you really can’t sit around and wonder if people are going to know if you did the job or not. There’s no way I could take a credit, if I didn’t feel I did the job. I really like the job. It’s hard to call it a job. It’s just the idea of taking a story and, somehow, servicing it, on all levels, to try and tell it the best way you possibly can.

MediaBlvd> Do you know anyone that’s like Joleen?

Charlize> I don’t personally, no, but I observed a lot of those kinds of people. I don’t know them personally, but I watched them. 

MediaBlvd> What did you pull from to play the role?

Charlize> It’s an understanding of the world. It’s going in there and doing the research and, more than anything, understanding what that kind of damage does to somebody and how they retaliate. I’d done a lot of that kind of research, when I played Eileen and, also, Josie Ames from North Country. There’s definitely a correlation between those women. It’s interesting, when you really study how people deal with a tumultuous past within the family, or some kind of abuse. It’s fascinating to how different people respond to it. I’ve always been fascinated by it, so it really came from reading a lot of books on it. It’s not hard for me to understand it. It’s effortless for me to understand. It’s more challenging to actually go execute it, but I understand it very much.

AnnaSophia Robb at the premiere of "Sleepwalking" held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, Calif. on March 6, 2008.

Charlize> I loved it. It felt very comfortable and very real. Putting that on, there’s no denying that you really feel like you’re Joleen.

MediaBlvd> Did you see this as an opportunity to transform yourself again?

Charlize> No. I’m an actor, and I do what that job tells me to do. I go and service the story. It’s not about transformation. It’s about finding a story that you emotionally tap into, and then servicing that story, the best you possibly can. After Monster, any time I have brown hair, it’s a transformation. The rope just gets tighter and tighter. So, it does get a little bit grueling, after a while, because that’s not the idea. We’ve just lost touch with what actors are supposed to do, and that’s frustrating because our job is to go and tell stories, and that sometimes means we have to transform to be authentic. When you do that now, you’re just a freak, but that didn’t use to be the case.

MediaBlvd> Anna, this is such a dark movie and you go through so much, emotionally. Did you ever have second thoughts about doing it, at your age?

AnnaSophia Robb> It wasn’t about where I would go. I didn’t think about that. When I first read it, I didn’t understand the story because I couldn’t relate to it. As soon as I met with Charlize and Bill, they explained how it’s about second chances, and taking control of your life. It’s a real story about wounded people. And, this happens in our world. I think we told it really well. On set, I never had any mental breakdowns, or anything like that. Actually, the darker it went, the more I loved it because I knew that Charlize would be there to help me come back out of it, as would Dennis and Nick, and everybody there.     

MediaBlvd> Charlize, what was Joleen’s plan, when she left her daughter?

Charlize> My analogy was always that I had been fascinated by people who lose a lot of weight. It’s an interesting psychological experience to watch somebody lose a lot of weight and then, somehow, go back into that same lifestyle. There is this excitement nad joy when they have  gastric bypass surgery, but somehow they still see themselves as the fat person from before they had the surgery. They actually really, truly believed that, once they lost the weight, all their problems would be solved, and that’s just not how life works. Once they lose the weight, they realize that, and that’s why they go back and gain the weight. That was my analogy for Joleen, except for her it was men. She thought that, if she could find a man, all of her problems would disappear. Obviously, this was a woman who had such a lack of love in her life that she didn’t even know what real love was, and I think she knew it. It was like saying, “You don’t even have to love me, but if you’re in the picture, and you can play the dad, then everything’s going to be fine. My daughter’s going to be good and she’s going to behave. And, I’m going to be good, and I’m going to be happy, and we’re going to have the house, and everything is going to be fine.” It really is a way of not dealing with anything. It’s like the fat person not dealing with the issues. And so, the plan was always to find the guy. Obviously, it’s a little easier to hook the guy when the little girl is not around, so the plan was to leave her there for a month or so, so she could hook the guy, who could come back and play the dad. But, that’s not how life works.

MediaBlvd> Joleen and Tara have such a strained relationship in the film. Did things stay that way between takes, or did you get to have some fun?

AnnaSophia> There was a ton of fun. It was not at all like Joleen and Tara’s relationship. Charlize and I would always talk about the scenes, and about anything, really. We bowled and watched movies.

Charlize> We also worked very hard.

AnnaSophia> It felt like a family, on set. We all lived in the same building and were with each other, pretty much all the time, except when we were sleeping. 

Charlize> I wanted Anna to feel comfortable, so that she could go to as dark a place as she needed to go, to play this part. So much of the story is relying on her character, and I think Anna did a beautiful job, carrying the emotional weight of the story. And, she could only do that if she felt like she was in a safe environment, where she could go to some not really pretty places. It wasn’t even intentional. I think it’s like the human condition. When we go to those places, we tend to go the extreme opposite. So, many times, we were dancing in the back of the shed, making raps and things like that.                         

MediaBlvd> Anna, did you enjoy doing that scene at the pool with the roller skates and the boys?

AnnaSophia> Yeah, that was a fun scene. Tara’s just playing with the idea of maturing. It was going to eventually happen. And, she was pretending to be her mom, and pretending to be older. But, instead of falling into the pool, she dives in. It’s a choice, and she’s in control. It’s a metaphor that she’s going to change, and she’s not going to be like her mom.

Charlize> I love that scene. I always thought of it as the postcard of the movie, that she sends home. We knew that the only reason it would work was if Anna completely committed to it. We couldn’t have a little girl, pretending. The character is pretending, but Anna needed to be committed to that pretending, as Tara. Anna and I went out, a couple nights before, and we talked about that scene. And, I talked to her parents. I told her that she had to commit for it to be believable. Sometimes, that’s more scary than doing an emotional, crying scene. That takes a lot of nerve. But, she’s a tough little one. From the moment she sat down, it was all in the attitude. She laid down, crossed her feet and she smoked that cigarette, and that came out of nowhere. That was in the first take. We printed the first take. She looked over and she dropped the sunglasses, and we all just freaked out behind the monitor. We were like, “This is brilliant!” It was so much fun. Those little boys were infatuated with Anna. I had to hold them back. They fell in love, left, right and center.

AnnaSophia> Before we started shooting, I had practiced, just skating around. I was looking forward to it. Instead of walking, it’s just gliding along. And, with the smoking, I’m never going to do it when I get older, so I got it over with. It wasn’t real. Now, I’m good.

Charlize> There was another brilliant little moment when Anna was on the diving board and she was holding the cigarette, and you can see that she doesn’t know what to do with it, so she takes one last puff and just drops it in the pool. Those are the kinds of things that you can’t really direct somebody to do. Anna just has this innate ability. Once it’s under her skin, it’s there and it’s really brilliant.                

MediaBlvd> How did it feel, jumping in the pool with your clothes and roller skates on?

AnnaSophia> It wasn’t the first time I’ve jumped in a pool with my clothes on, but it was the first time with roller skates. Underwater, Charlize and Bill were telling me to be ethereal and look like I’m dancing. Once she dives in, she’s in this protective little bubble and just looking up and seeing the world from a different angle. From that point, you know she’s going to make different choices in her life than her mother did. She’s accepted growing up. She’s going to look at life from a new angle, and be more accepting and take more responsibility.

MediaBlvd> AnnaSophia, what was it like to work so closely with Nick Stahl?

AnnaSophia> We met and it worked really well. As Tara and James’ relationship grows throughout the film, Nick and my relationship grew. We were always joking around, and I felt so comfortable around Nick. He’s like my uncle. That’s so nice to have on one of these serious films because it can feel dangerous mentally sometimes, and I never felt that on the set. And, Nick was so good about encouraging me, and making me feel comfortable, and always laughing and hanging out with me, all the time. I loved working with him.

Charlize> That was probably the most difficult relationship to pull off in the film because that very easily could cross the line and start feeling like it’s going to lean towards something sexual. Nick does a beautiful job, but it’s hands down because of Anna. She really just held her own. They did improv together, and she was right there with him. From the moment she got together with Nick, they had great chemistry together, and so, you never questioned that this was anything other than two very desperate people, reaching for an emotional help, somewhere there.

MediaBlvd> Why was Dennis Hopper cast in this? And, was he ever nice off-screen, or did he stay in character?

Charlize> I can’t lie. When I read the script, his face came to mind, and I tend to do that quite a bit when I read material. The imagination goes a little crazy and I start seeing people’s faces, and I definitely saw his. This character needed somebody with great charisma and yet, at the same time, had this undertone of just complete fear, and he does that so well. So, he was always my first choice. And, Nick was also always my first choice. That came from a long time of actually just wanting to work with him. And, when I read it I just thought that that was a really great dynamic for the two of us to work together on. He came on board really early on. I had this project around for 4 years, and he came on board like a year and a half before we even had the financing sorted out and really remained incredibly passionate about it. Once we had the financing sorted out, I sent it to Dennis and he got back to me within 24 hours and said he was in.  Before we sent it to Dennis, I was still on the fence about whether I wanted to see the project through because so much of this emotional story relied on finding the right young actress. My head was like, “I love this, but until we can find the right person to do it . . .” I wasn’t going to just do a mediocre job on it because the story just couldn’t work without somebody who could really get it. Ironically enough, Anna was working on The Reaping with Stephen Hopkins, who I did The Life and Death of Peter Sellers with. We remained really good friends, and he was at my house one weekend, and I was telling him about this. He said, “I’m working with this girl right now. She doesn’t have one line of dialogue. She tells everything with her eyes, and she’s amazing. You should meet her.” A week later, Anna came in and we met, and I said, “Sign me on, I’m doing this. I have to do this with her.”

AnnaSophia > Dennis is the best. He’s just completely different from his character  He always made sure I was okay. He’d always say, “That was a good take.” When he had to hit me and I had to fall down, he’d pick me right back up. He was very supportive. He taught me lots of little tricks of the trade. I just loved working with him. I learned a lot, and it was an honor.

MediaBlvd> Charlize, did you feel that this was more James’ story than Tara’s or Joleen’s?

Charlize> I  find it really interesting that women think it’s Tara’s story, and  men think it’s James’ story. A lot of men come in and say it’s great, especially to see Nick Stahl play this character. And then, women come in they’re like, “It’s all about Tara.” Psychologically, I find that quite interesting to watch.

MediaBlvd> The cinematography is so important, in telling this story. How involved were you with cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia and director Bill Maher?

 Charlize> Juan Ruiz Anchia is brilliant. We met with him and, as a producer, the most important thing is to not be held up by a cinematographer. I understand that it’s an incredibly difficult job, but when you have 20 days to shoot a film, and you have incredibly harsh weather do deal with, you can’t just sit around and wait, especially when you are dealing with a performance piece, where you need to give the actors have time to work on the scene. A lot of times, you run into issues, and I’ve been there. Producing Monster, unfortunately, we had to let go of a D.P. in the first 10 days because you need to leave that room for the actors to work in. Juan was great. He stepped in and was such a trooper. He never got in the way of the actors, and he really understands the process. He has a true love for actors, and he’s really good and smart at using the elements. When the first dailies came in, we were just blown away. And, I loved that he was not afraid of color. A lot of times, when you make these movies, people tend to grim them out. I loved that he really celebrated color. The landscape out there was unbelievably beautiful. We’d show up on locations and were just like, “Wow!” It’s a great location. I would go back there to shoot because it was beautiful. I just wouldn’t go in the winter.

MediaBlvd> Anna, now that you’re a teen, are you okay with playing younger, or do you want to just keep going forward?

AnnaSophia> I was at that age when I did this movie. I turned 13 on the shoot. I don’t feel like age is a big thing.

Charlize> No, it’s not, sweetheart. Take my word for it.

MediaBlvd> Charlize, was it refreshing to work with younger talent, like AnnaSophia and Nick?

Charlize> It’s refreshing to work with talent. It’s not about age, like Anna just said. Anna was incredibly inspiring to be around, as an actress. I don’t look at her and see a kid. I look at her and see a tremendously talented actress. And, when you see somebody make those kinds of choices, at this age, you know that the reserve is just packed. There’s going to be so much more. And, I really think that she wants to have that. She wants to have longevity, and I think she wants the challenge. I didn’t act when I was her age, but I imagine it’s really difficult to come across this kind of material when you’re that age. It’s not the norm to get this kind of material. So, I think that this was a really good experience for her, now that I know her and know what kind of actress she wants to become. And, I’m a huge fan of Nick. I’ve always wanted to work with him. He’s one of those really incredibly talented actors that we have not tapped completely into. I just think he’s brilliant.

MediaBlvd> Was it fun to go play in a big budget Hollywood movie, like Hancock, after doing something like this, where you were so emotionally invested in every aspect of it?

Charlize> It’s not about budget. Until you drive up to the set and you see more people and bigger trailers and the food is maybe better, that’s really the only difference. At the end of the day, that material was incredibly challenging. I don’t even know how to talk about it. I just recently saw it and I actually had to call Will. I was like, I” don’t even know what to say about this movie because it’s going to sound so pretentious, but it’s the most original thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

MediaBlvd> What’s the tone of the film?

Charlize> It literally gives the middle finger to the genre. It’s really quite brilliant, and Akiva and Pete did a brilliant job. Will is fantastic in it. It is one of the most original pieces of work I’ve ever seen. When we were shooting it, there were days I looked at Will and was like, “What the hell are we doing because I don’t even know what is going on right now.” Pete creates that environment and, for some reason, it just worked really well with that material. It’s brilliant.

MediaBlvd> Are you guys shooting anything right now?

Charlize> I’m about to go and do The Road with Viggo, just doing the flashback stuff. I love that project. It’s my favorite book. It’s go great.

AnnaSophia> I’m doing Race to Witch Mountain.