Charlize Gets Dirty

Image credit: Charlize Theron Photograph by James White

Are you surprised by how willing some celebrities are to serve up their private lives for public consumption?
I'm not going to sit here and judge. The only thing that sucks is that those people who encourage it f--- it up for the ones who don't, because they keep those magazines in business. It's like a great David Lynch horror film, that whole paparazzi thing. I understand if people want to see celebrities in pretty dresses at awards shows. But to follow somebody to watch them pump gas and pick up dog s---? How are you going through your life if that's interesting to you? Get a National Geographic and find out what's going on in Africa, for f---'s sake. I don't get it.

There are a lot of profiles of you that portray you as sort of one of the guys: ''Charlize Theron lights a cigarette, pounds a beer, orders a steak, jumps on a motorcycle—''
Yeah, and you've witnessed all of those things. [Laughs] At least I swore a little bit, didn't I? Look, I'll smoke a cigarette for you if you want and we'll throw back a six-pack. [Sighs] I think I'm different things on different occasions. For anyone to read one article and think they know you — it doesn't work that way.

For all our talk about post-Oscar career strategy, with the exception of Arrested Development you haven't actually signed on to any new projects since you won your Academy Award a year and a half ago. Have you been keeping tabs on what's out there?
No, I haven't read a script since right before the Oscars. I said yes to both Aeon Flux and North Country before the Oscars and I knew they'd keep me busy for the next two years. If you've just committed yourself to two projects, entertaining any other stuff is like dragging yourself over broken glass.

And your manager has been cool with that?
Yeah, because it's my life. I'm not just a moneymaking machine. There have been some offers, but I just didn't feel ready to go spend eight months on a film set. Not one day goes by where I go, ''Oh, f---, what am I missing out on?'' I love my life as much as my work. I don't want one to take over the other.

So when you do finally go back to reading scripts, do you have an idea of what you'd like to do next?
No. I like not knowing what's out there. I've never walked around with this one specific part in my head, like, this is what I want to play one day. Everything that's ever come my way was something that felt different, where I didn't know the world. When I do go back, it'll be a new discovery. It's in the hands of the stars and the moons and the universe. It really is.

(This is an online-only excerpt of Entertainment Weekly's Oct. 28, 2005, cover story.)