Posted in: Fox, Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: aeon flux, arrested development, charlize theron, fox, jason bateman
Charlize Theron Thanks Arrested Development for Helping Save Career
Charlize Theron has had a rare career as an actor in Hollywood, able to succeed in a wide range of roles in action, drama, and comedy. But there was a time when she believed her career was near ruin. Not long after her Oscar-winning turn in 2003's Monster, she landed the lead role in 2005's live-action Aeon Flux, based on the MTV animated sci-fi series of the same name (which we're still big fans of here). When she realized the film was going to flop, she turned to the fourth-wall-breaking sitcom Arrested Development in 2005, playing Rita, a love interest for lead Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman.
"It was one of the scariest things to walk onto a set of a show that's so developed and so brilliant. But I think I needed that, to put myself out there in a different way because people thought of me as someone who was fucking depressing," Theron told The Hollywood Reporter. Theron realized she made a huge cinematic mistake, but the then-Fox sitcom could be the key to fixing things career-wise. "I just fucking loved that show, and this is going to sound so 'poor me,' but I do feel like sometimes, as women, we get one shot, and I knew that 'Aeon Flux' was going to be a fucking flop. I knew it from the beginning. That's why I did 'Arrested Development.'"
Theron appeared in five episodes of season three, the show's final run on FOX. The series was since revived for two seasons on Netflix long after the series' original cancelation. Theron would go onto lead-role status with roles in Hancock (2008), Prometheus (2012), The Huntsman franchise films, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Atomic Blonde (2017), The Old Guard (2020), and most recently, The School for Good and Evil (2022) for Netflix. For more, check out the entire THR interview here.