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Onscreen and Off, Charlize Is Naked

For spicy Oscar winner, candor comes naturally

By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 16, 2009 2:40 PM CDT

(Newser) – Charlize Theron is known for her devil-may-care attitude about onscreen nudity. But as Kevin Conley found while writing a profile of the Oscar-winning beauty for Vogue, nakedness follows Theron into her real life as well—though it’s of the metaphorical variety. “I feel like I always reveal too much,” Theron, 34, says. “There’s something sexy about the mystery. I don’t know how to play that card, though.” Observes an admiring Conley, “Frankness, it seems, relaxes her.”

Theron is slated to appear in two films this fall, including the highly-anticipated adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Some have reduced Theron’s acting skills to mere externals like weight gain, false teeth, and Joan Crawford-esque eyebrows, but Conley disagrees, praising the former model for not only being open about her weaknesses (fear of flying, growing old alone, and being inappropriate), but mining them for her characters. Theron herself says, “My weaknesses are way more interesting to me than my strengths.”

I feel like I always reveal too much, Charlize Theron tells Vogue.
"I feel like I always reveal too much," Charlize Theron tells Vogue.   (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
I feel like I always reveal too much, Charlize Theron tells Vogue.
"I feel like I always reveal too much," Charlize Theron tells Vogue.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
I feel like I always reveal too much, Charlize Theron tells Vogue.
"I feel like I always reveal too much," Charlize Theron tells Vogue.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
I feel like I always reveal too much, Charlize Theron tells Vogue.
"I feel like I always reveal too much," Charlize Theron tells Vogue.   (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
Actress Charlize Theron arrives for the screening of the movie 'The burning plain'  at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.
Actress Charlize Theron arrives for the screening of the movie 'The burning plain' at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Actress Charlize Theron arrives for the screening of the movie 'The burning plain'  at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.
Actress Charlize Theron arrives for the screening of the movie 'The burning plain' at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actress Charlize Theron arrives at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday June 1, 2008, in Los Angeles.
Actress Charlize Theron arrives at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday June 1, 2008, in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
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People tell me that cocaine makes you feel superhuman and you'll say anything. Then when you come down like all of a sudden you have guilt. But I have that feeling innately, even without the cocaine.
- Charlize Theron

There's one description you hear about her again and again: movie star. People seem to mean it in the thirties sense, when the term was synonymous with studio stars who could fill movie palaces.
- Kevin Conley, Vogue

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
JonmarkP
Aug 18, 2009 5:50 AM CDT
She's no Sarah Palin. Thank God!
riffran
Aug 17, 2009 8:46 AM CDT
agreed ...a very beautifull lady, but damn what naaaaasty looking villian in "monster"...I had to look twice when they said it was her
P Davis Doig
Aug 17, 2009 5:07 AM CDT
From Vogue: "Theron's characters often appear on-screen naked. The moments never seem gratuitous—although they can be awkward to speak about with someone you've only known three days. The topic is probably unavoidable this month. In the opening scene of The Burning Plain, Theron walks naked to a wide-open window, where she lights a cigarette, stares into the distance for a while, then looks over at the man in her bed and says dismissively, "Get up." There is no tenderness to it. The sequence made both men and women in test audiences uncomfortable; she felt the same way the first time she read the scene. "But instantly I was interested not only in the story but in this woman, and that came very much from this physical shock of seeing her get up, open the window—again, the physical intrigued me."" See also The Cider House Rules, The Astronaut's Wife, and a few of her lesser-knowns

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