"Charlize Theron"
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Hey, how was the golf vacation? How was your golf trip? It was good. It was really, really good. You really missed one there, Arnett. That's okay. I was working. I was working. You were busy providing. Oh, I thought you guys went together. I couldn't go. I had to work. I tried. I tried. I was with your wife last night, Jason. Sorry?

I hung out with your wife last night. There we go. And your daughter, who I love. Yeah, she's pretty great. So that was a 10-year-old. That's Maple. The 15-year-old, Franny, had her sweet 16 this weekend. I know. I love that. No kidding. She did. And it was... And is the boyfriend back? Were you back for it? I came back just in time to drive to where she was having it to kick them all out and lock up.

And, um, and it was, uh, it was, it was great. I was, I was ready to see things that I wasn't

ready to see, and I didn't see anything that I was worried about. It was very-- I mean, there was like bowls of chips and Oreo cookies laid out on trays. You weren't like sweeping up vape cartridges. Exactly. At least I didn't find any. But like just sweeping up Oreo cookies and stuff and where was the party? Was it at Sean's house?

There were a lot of Cheetos and cookies and pizzas. It sounds like my 51st birthday. Sean, what was the last big party you threw, Sean? For myself or just in general? For yourself. Uh...

I don't know, years and years and years ago. Why don't you treat yourself? Well, didn't you guys come to that-- Remember that poker party that I had? -I don't. -I did. Oh, my God. Sean, that was 2004. Yeah. I'm not kidding. It was the fall of 2004 in your backyard. I was there. I can't even remember the year. You know, we used to play a lot of poker, Will. Why don't we start playing poker again? We talked about it. We've been threatening. I guess we could do it over here at my house.

Why don't we just do it? It'd be fun. Hey, I texted Will yesterday if I could wear these shoes with the suit pants. Now, are you wearing them on the flight, too?

Yeah. Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean flight? What do you mean suit pants? Oh, right. You're taking off today. He's going to an event. Yeah. Why are you wearing suit pants? And who says suit pants? Aren't they called slacks? Who says slacks? Who says fucking suit pants, bro? Here we go, guys. Here we are. Suit pants versus slacks. We'll be right back. Who says slacks? Let's go back to the socks. Get back up and let's question the socks. Yeah.

Aren't there like little faces on that? Yeah. What are you doing? What is that? They're just checkers. Are they fun? They're houndstooth. Do you like people who are like, I'm going to wear fun socks today. And I hope that people notice my fun socks and go, oh man, you must have a real sense of humor because I just noticed your socks.

It really shows that you've got a real sense of humor. You've got a lot of character. Wow, you've got a lot of character. Where are you going, Sean? I'm going to an event tonight, an award ceremony in Chicago for theater. Uh-huh, uh-huh.

It is the event. The event's tonight, Sean? The event's tonight, yeah. Wait, what time do you land? Are you nominated or are you presenting? I'm nominated in Good Night Oscar. The show is nominated and Emily Bergel, who plays my wife, is nominated and the writer is nominated, Doug Wright, and Lisa Peterson, who directed it, is nominated. Amazing. Are you not nominated? No, I am nominated. Oh, my God. It's such an honor. Are you also presenting? No. What time do you get in? You're leaving late. I literally land and have to go straight there. Okay, well, this feels like poor planning. Do you have an acceptance speech written?

I mean, just in case I have ideas of just who you want to thank. I saw, look, Sean showed me a copy of his acceptance speech and he actually crossed out Scotty. He'd had him in and then he crossed it out. Did you guys get in a fight last night? Yeah, a little bit. Wait, I want to go back to the socks for two seconds. Let's not talk about the Scotty fight.

Did you guys, did you hurl an Oreo at him? No, no. I think the socks thing is because we don't, as guys, don't get a lot of, and as far as fashion goes, a lot of room to play with. Like, it's always just a suit. Opportunities for hijinks with clothes. I thought you were going to say it's always just a hoodie. But...

I do have another hoodie on. Yeah, I do like to accessorize a little bit every once in a while. I don't have the moves that Will does. Because you're not afraid of a scarf or something like that, are you, Will? Or a cravat, no. What's a cravat? Yeah, what is a cravat? Ascot, I guess. I don't know. You know, I get... I see the way he was so, like, trying to have patience with us Philistines that don't know. Well, what can I do? I mean, you know, I get roasted for it if I just, you know, just for my common parlance. LAUGHTER

That's why I texted you because of the three of us, you probably dress the best. You really do. Thank you very much. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. No, I really take that as a compliment. And I did say to you, yes, I mean, I think that those shoes are okay. Yes. I said, give me the context where it is. And he said, it's this thing. It's not a big deal. And it's in Chicago. And I said, then it's fine.

Yeah, it's a big deal. All you heard was Chicago and it's good then. Yeah, well, it's in Chicago. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine in Chicago. So they're tennis shoes, though. I'm just kidding. All my friends in Chicago, it should be noted, love Chicago. We had a great time in Chicago. The three of us did. We did. And we love it.

Love it. But, Shawnee, those are tennis shoes you're wearing with a suit? Yeah. Am I looking at the full outfit right now? Is the hoodie part of the suit pants and everything? No, no, the hoodie's just for the airplane. But what is your opinion, Jason, about, like, gym shoes with a suit as opposed to, like, dress shoes? Those aren't gym shoes. Hang on. Stop saying gym shoes and suit pants.

They're like, you know. I wore them on the tour. What do you call those? You give like rich guys a problem. Sorry. We'll be right with you, guys. Those are like adult contemporary. I call those adult contemporary shoes. I'm a rich guy with a yacht.

Yeah, I'm a finance guy and I'm trying to be cool. And so my wife got me some Tom Ford sneakers. And I'm like, hey, look, I'm hip. I don't have time to think about it. I'm worried about numbers all the time. And then I'm wearing jeans and I'm wearing these kind of sneakers kind of thing. And it's like, hey, listen, I'm wearing this suit jacket, but then I'm jeans under the desk and I've got these fucking cool sneaks. Like, okay, just fucking do it or don't.

All right, let's get back to... Why am I so mad about it? Jason, you know. Jason gets it. You know I'm not mad. I just get worked up. I know you're not mad. I know you're not. I know you're about to get real pleased. Today we have a guest that is all things. She's an actor. She's a producer. She's a mom, a model, an Academy Award winner, a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and a friend of ours.

She's been in 50 films, but is younger than all of us. Let's find out how she gets it all done today on Smart List. Shall we, gang? Please welcome the one and only Charlize Theron. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Hi, Charlize. Hi, guys. Good morning. She's got a cute haircut and a cute sweater on. She's got a really cute haircut today. I do. It's a grow out. I don't think it's a haircut. It's a grow out. I like that. What's a grow out? And it's dark, listener. It looks real good dark. Yeah, it's super cute. Have I ever seen you dark? I think so. Or brunette. What do we call it?

I mean, I'm not that picky about it. - It's called "Shoot as Hell" is what it's called. - She just put it right back into your court, JV. - Yes, she did. She's got a sweater on that I think I wore in '84. She wears it real well. - Thank you. - Let's bring those back. - Yes. - What about socks? Charlize, are you a socks?

Let me see. Here she goes. No socks. Nothing. No socks. No socks, no shoes. But you got a couple of tats on there. No socks. Sean, quick eye there. You noticed, huh? Yeah. I'm fast. I'm fast. How many tattoos do we have today? I have two, I'm proud to say. You have a tramp stamp? That's amazing. It's right on the small of my back. It just says breathe. Yeah. Wow.

What does it say? Breathe. So it's working. So it's like a PSA for whoever you're with.

Sean, Will, any tattoos from you two? That's hysterical. Sure. Sean's laughing because it's an idea. Right. No tattoos from Will? Sean? No, I've always wanted to get one. When I was young, I wanted to get one on my bicep. My what? My bicep. And then what happened? It went away, so you had no place to put it?

I wanted to get Wendell Clark. I would be one of those when you're waving, it speaks. It's like a... I know. That's what's happening to me now at 53. I don't like to show my tattoos because both are on my girl's names on the inside of my arm there. I don't notice how I don't say bicep. And then when I show it to somebody when they ask and then that little bottom part of the arm just starts to wave at them, it's not good. I have my...

I have my girl's middle names on my arm too. Do you? Oh, that's cute. And charcoal gray right here. But on your forearm. On my forearm, yes. Okay, so let me ask you, actors with tattoos, do you have to go through makeup when you're doing a movie to get, like, is it a pain in the ass to get? Yeah, you gotta get it covered up. I did for the first year of Ozark and then I said, enough. Let's just say my guy's got tattoos. Who cares? What about you, Charlize? I,

I did this in charcoal gray, so it doesn't really photograph. It's super light. And so it doesn't, you don't really, you don't pick it up. And I have found as a producer that when they're light like this, it's easy to take them out in the DI. You don't have to put a ton of makeup. It's almost easier to just leave it alone if it's a light tattoo.

-Right. -But there's also that thing-- But I think it started with Mike Tyson in Hangover 3, right? Where you have to get the approval or the sign-off of the person who does the tattoo. -Or the artist. -The artist, yeah. Or they can sue you later for, like, showing a painting that you haven't bought the license for or something like that. -Yeah. -Really? -This world we're living in. -Like playing a song. You gotta pay for it. -It's kind of absurd. -Remember when shit was free? -Yeah. -Right? Just remember when people didn't stress about shit that was stupid?

Yeah. I do. Mm-hmm.

Oh, I didn't know that we were all drinking at the same time. Sorry, gang. All right. It's nice to see you guys, by the way. It's been a while. It's been a long time, yeah. It's been many, many years. Many years. I saw you. Remember when she was on Arrested Development, Sean? What was your favorite scene? Sean, remember when she was on Arrested Development? What was your favorite scene she did? Oh, my God. It's one of my favorite episodes. When she came in and she... He's never seen Arrested, Charlize. It's a point of contention. She played a character named Rita. Rita. Who was...

Was she, Charlize, were you, I bet you don't even remember either. I don't, you were a spy? I, yeah. Or we thought you were a spy. You thought you were a spy. You thought I was a spy, yes. Because I had a very interesting British accent. I sounded very smart. Did you have a, growing up in South Africa, did you have an accent as a kid and got rid of it? Or what happened?

Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I didn't speak English really until I was like 19. Really? Spoke over cards? I grew up in an area. Yes, I grew up in an area where... That's right. That's right.

That's fucking terrible. Wait, wait, wait. Come on, bro. Come on, bro. Come on, bro. I know it's terrible. It's a very difficult accent to do, South African. Very, very difficult. Anyway, yeah, I didn't speak it. So I had it as a second language, but nobody in my neighborhood spoke English. But I went to ballet and the

that was the Royal Academy of London. And so we had these teachers from London and they couldn't speak English. So that was the only English I ever really heard was these two Brits yelling at us. And I would do exams not even knowing I was doing exams because I didn't understand what they were saying.

So when I came here at 19, it was really kind of like learning the language. And that's why it was easy for me to drop the accent because I was really learning English from scratch. I think English-speaking South Africans have a harder time because it's an ingrained accent that they're trying to break. I didn't have that. So Afrikaans is a completely different language. It's not a severity of accent. This is new information for you.

Wow. It is a combination. There's about 44 people still speaking it. It's definitely a dying language. It's not a very helpful language. Do we know what it is a combination of? We do. Yeah, Dutch. I mean, yeah, so we at pretty much all of Europe try to come in and –

and take over. But the Dutch language is predominantly what it's based on, and then there's some German in there, and then we've bastardized it. So if I... I understand Dutch, but when I speak Afrikaans, a Dutch person will be very hoity-toity about it, and they'll be like, I don't know what you're saying, because we've kind of bastardized it. We've flattened it out a little bit. They might even say that's a terrible, terrible accent, like you said to me. Ha!

Wait, I'm an idiot. Did you ever play a part where you had to do a South African accent? I did, yeah. You did, yeah. Yeah. Probably a super famous movie and I'm a dum-dum. No, it's not actually. It's a, yeah, it was a film called The Last Face. Uh-huh. Okay.

Because I could talk to you for nine hours about Alien Prometheus right now, because it's one of my favorite movies. I loved it. Thank you, Scotty. Scotty's creeping in in the background. It did look like the door was opening. Oh, it's the dog. It's the dog. If it was Scotty on all fours, just coming to listen. All right. Well, okay. So then you said you came here at 19. Yeah.

Charlize, let's go back. So we're in South Africa. We decide to go to... Now, ballet was not first. Was it modeling in Milan? Well, I started dancing when I was really young, and then I went to an art school for dance, and that's really what I wanted to do with my life. I just... I fell in love with dance, and... I mean, really what I fell in love with was storytelling, but I didn't know it then. Because technically, I was never the strongest dancer, but...

When I was Swan Lake, I would fucking die on the stage. And so I always got work because I could- Stop nodding, Sean. Okay, sorry. I mean, he's eagerly nodding. But yeah, that's what I wanted to do with my life until I kind of couldn't and had to kind of rethink my life. And my mom was the one that pointed out that it was maybe more the storytelling aspect of it that I loved than the dance. And so she was the one that kind of put it together that maybe I should go and try acting, which was like,

The most stupid, ignorant, like we knew nothing. Nothing about how you would even go about to be an actor. So how did you? A one-way ticket to Hollywood. Oh, really? She literally bought me a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. Wow, no way. And I got off the plane and I had nowhere to stay. I mean, I just had no plan. I stayed at the Farmer's Daughter because the cab dropped me off there. On Fairfax. Yeah, and now it's cute. Back then it was like a by-the-hour thing.

I bought a bottle of bleach right across from the Vaughn's and started cleaning that bathroom. And I stayed there for like six months. I stayed there for an hour once. Now, did you take acting classes right away? Not right away. I had a very strange experience where kind of like the Lana Turner thing.

you know, soda fountain story where I was at a bank trying to cash a check from New York, which was an out-of-state check and I couldn't cash it. And this guy was trying to help me cash it. And he ended up being a manager and, and he, he signed me on, which is just weird because I could barely speak English. And that tells you everything about how we find our actors these days. But anyway, he,

He told me about an acting class and I started going there like once, what I could afford, which was like once a week at that time. And that was helpful because I knew nothing about acting. I knew nothing. I didn't even know who actors were. Like I loved Tom Hanks movies without knowing his name was Tom Hanks. - Right. Well, God, there's so much in there. - How long was he your manager, this guy?

He was my manager for about four years. Wow. You're so lucky you found the actual manager that says, hey, young lady, I'm a manager. Like, you found a real one. As opposed to, you know... I mean, instead of, like, my office is in my van. Yeah, everybody said that. They were like, this guy...

This is what happens to everybody. Like, you're going to end up in a ditch. And then somebody actually knew him who was in my car. His card was in my car for, like, months. And they said, yeah, he represents John Hurt. And I was like, well, that's a real actor. Okay. So I called him. Wow. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. Now, when you... So when you started going to these acting classes and you didn't really know what acting was, you said, was...

your experience with it and it starting to become comfortable to you, did you have the sense like, oh, well they just kind of have a name for all these things that I'm just kind of naturally doing anyway. In other words, did you find a very natural approach to acting or were you studying sort of like the technique and like going kind of dot to dot about how to act or did it just kind of come naturally to you because you're so good at it and you never really see you acting. It seems like it's very natural for you.

Oh, thanks, Jason. I think it was a natural ability. It's easy for me to escape. Like, I think I used it in my childhood. It was a way for me to survive. And it's where I've always found solace. And I think of it as this, you know, amazing opportunity that I get to go and do whatever it is at that time, material wise, that I just get to dive into completely. And I love that aspect of it. And that is easy for me. Yeah.

But I didn't know how to break a script down and I didn't even know how to read a script. And I didn't know about an arc necessarily, you know? So all of that stuff I had to learn and that's what this class was really helpful for. Because they didn't just have actors, they had writers, they had directors.

So I was around people and I could see kind of, you know, from a little bit higher in the ground, not so... Did you have an early experience with an actor or a director on a job where you saw them, with the actor maybe breaking down their script or a director sort of... Did anybody... Was anybody a real helpful influence for you, like actually at work as opposed to in a class? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think...

Yes, this class was helpful, but really, ultimately, I became a student as I was working. I mean, I think that's always the best way to work. And I look at all of my experiences early on. I found great mentorship opportunities.

with producers and directors and writers and actors who really, you know, really just took me under my wing. I'm here because of the grace of a lot of those people and kindness of a lot of those people because I was so eager. And so, you know, I think they were entertained by me. Did you have a moment with one of them, though, that you remember now that you kind of go back to and go, that was a powerful moment, somebody that I worked with, director, writer, actor, early on?

Yeah, I mean, I worked with this writer-director, John Hertzfeld. It was my first film that I ever did. And he was very kind. You know, he was very patient. I had to do a lot of stuff with...

with James Spader, who's lovely, but like he's a pro, you know? And he like shows up and he's ready to rock and roll. And I think I was, you know, like 19 at the time. And there were moments where John really kind of like helped me, I think, get through a shoot that could have been tough because I was so inexperienced, you know? So I'm grateful to him always. But then I got to work with Tom Hanks right after that. And he was just fucking lovely because he,

With him, it was just all about the joy. He was just like, lean into the joy, the joy, the joy. And then I also had like, you know, counter experiences. Like I love Taylor Hackford. I did a film called Devil's Advocate with him, with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. And that was a really big movie for me. And,

He loves, he really encourages method. And so everybody just, you don't really have a choice. Like that's just kind of like how he makes, I don't know now, but that was back then. So explain for Tracy, the non-entertainment people, what method is. It's basically immersing yourself in the character and the world and

And so you're never, ever out of it. You stay in it. Your director will call you by the character name. You're kind of immersed in it the whole time.

Those people are super fun to hang out with. That's exactly it. So I realized on that film that that was definitely not a process that was going to work for me. There was something so exhausting about it. My life was miserable. I wasn't happy. And then, of course, you worry because you're like, well, if I don't do that, then maybe I won't be as good as the Marlon Brandos and the Monty Cliffs. And you read all these biographies. Right. And then...

I did some work non-method and I was actually really happy with the work. And I think... You could pop in and out, yeah? For me, having the energy to be able to go a lot further in darker material is way more helpful than being exhausted. When I'm exhausted, I'm a little bit... I'm just too tired. Like I almost like don't want to like go into the dark room. But I think when I...

So I made it a real discipline. I think dance really helped me with this. I work and I leave it behind and I come home and I pick up my dog shit and I love my kids and I make pasta and drink a beer and like life is good. Well, you're so goddamn funny. I wish you'd do more comedies. I'll bet it's...

but they just don't come your way, right? I mean, is it just a question of like them not sending you a bunch of comedic stuff? Are you talking to Sean? Yeah. Charlize, we'll be with you in one second. Like, you know, there it's like, well, maybe you wouldn't mind being immersed in, well, I guess it depends on what sort of comedic character it would be, but going method on a comedy would not be as painful, I would suppose. I think comedy is...

You know, it's very much like a taste thing. Like, I think you love comedy because you find something funny. And I think that's where I struggle sometimes. Yeah, there's certain kinds of funny.

Yeah, so like for me, the reason why, you know, I had just won the Academy Award for Monster and the first job I did was working with you guys on Arrested Development. Makes sense. I just thought this is such an opportunity to work with these geniuses that I, you know, might never get again. I don't buy it.

And then the geniuses weren't available, so you came and worked with us. You know, Mitch was amazing and kind of like approaching me and saying like, do you find this funny? Like, let's, if you find this funny, we can figure something out. And that's kind of the comedy that I'm, I don't want to, I don't think I can do comedy that I don't myself find funny. Like I loved working with the Point Grey guys and Seth Rogen on Long Shot. Like that was a movie that I really loved. I would make that movie over and over and over again because it was just,

hands down one of the best experiences. Jonathan Levine kind of shepherded that thing and everybody was just

I find them very funny. - How great is Seth? - Super funny. - He's such a good dude. - Yeah, hilarious. - I remember how our minds were blown that you were coming to do the show. Remember, Will? We were just like, "Wait, what? "Charlie Theron's coming here?" - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Aw, that's so sweet. - It was difficult to process. - I was so nervous. I'm gonna tell you guys right now. I don't think-- - Oh my God, we were petrified, too. - I would say that's like my top five most nervous jobs I've ever done because people don't think of me as funny. So there's this version of like,

Oh, here comes the dramatic, you know, asshole that's going to like come and fuck our show up. Yeah, you were just playing this great character, you know, like it wasn't funny to her. You know, that was that was that brand of humor. Yeah. And that's I think that's the humor that I like. But I do feel pressure. I'm not pressure, but you guys are good. So I look at you guys and I go.

When I watched you two, and that whole cast, I have to say, it's effortless. But I also know you guys had been on the show for a while and you get into a thing. It's like there's nothing worse than being the new kid on the show, like when you show up and it's like...

Right, but hopefully you saw how quickly we were all morons and it was just this big dumb family. We were idiots. No, I found you guys very impressive, actually. Very impressive. We were very, I remember just being like, what? I'm just feeling so... I have a question though. You turned into George Michael. I really did.

I did. But what's kind of mind-blowing to me, just hearing your story about coming here at 19 and not speaking English, you just kind of... It's kind of mind-blowing that you jumped into these films like with these...

huge successful people right away where most actors' stories are like, I did this commercial and I tried to get a TV show. I couldn't do that. You know, your journey was so quick and fast. No, I did that. I just skipped over it. I did like Ross Dress for Less commercials. Oh, okay, okay. And by that, I mean I was like an extra in the back, you know, like not featured. But...

No, trust me. I was an extra in Children of the Corn 3. Oh, okay. No, it was definitely not like, oh, here you go, be an actor. Here you go. And what about like roommates? Did you have to find other actor roommates? Like what was the living situation growing up? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I lived in a loft with –

two other girls right next to the big five down on the San Vicente. Oh, sure. And I lived there for years and it was, you know, like a one bedroom loft. It was just a room and a bed, you know, coming out of the wall. And three of us lived there for years. The bathroom was literally right next to the kitchen. And I just, I would look at that

from the kitchen sink and I just said to myself, let this be the motivation. Let this be the motivation. We need to live somewhere where our toilet is right now, not next to the kitchen. That was like, that was a huge motivation. Do you still talk to those women? Didn't you and Scotty put a toilet in the kitchen just to cut down the commute? No.

Just to cut down the commute. You can only put so much sloppy joe in your face before, you know, you just can't make it to the toilet. They did the math on how much time they waste going back and forth. They sat down, they had a meeting with their business manager. The truth is so funny sometimes. You're right. Charlize is still trying to catch her breath. We'll wait.

We could trim it all out. I'm literally crying. Oh, God. By the way, I've made these guys sloppy joes a couple times now. So maybe that's why. Well, I've heard about your Swedish fish. Yeah, I listen to the show. The plug that a Swedish fish and a piece of sloppy joe can make.

- God, that's funny. - So, Charlize, the cushy shooting situation there at 20th Century Fox when we were doing Arrested is nothing compared to the grueling location of, say, a Mad Max, right? I mean, walk us through, was it as tough as it looked out there doing Mad Max out in the middle of an Australian desert? - Oh yeah, I love that movie. - Or was there something really cush just behind camera?

No, we shot it in Namibia, actually. We were originally going to shoot it in Australia. Ask him where Namibia is. Just ask him what side of Africa it's on. Do you know where Namibia is? That's over there on the left side, if you're looking at it from the north. Oh, it's a 50-50 chance. Yeah, we'll see the way I confuse you with the left and the north. It's a beautiful place, Jason. It looks insane. Yeah, it's really beautiful. It's where...

It's the only place where lions and whales meet. Like you'll see lions walk on the beach and eat, you know, discarded whales. No way. Yeah, it's really, it's a magical place. There's places called, you know, Skeleton Coast. And it's like, it's pretty magical. I like that. It has like dunes. It's just like hundreds of miles of dunes. I mean, the desert is unbelievable and beautiful.

We went there because there was a flood. There was like a rain monsoon that hit Australia right before, as we were in pre-production and the whole red desert in Australia just ended up being wildflowers. So not very- How long of a shoot was that? How many months?

Oh, I just want to listen to this. So we had 140 cars that were made in Australia and they had to ship. They put them all on a boat and drove them on the water. What is that? Oh my God. Sailed? Sailed them on the water all the way to Namibia. Anyway, what were you asking, Sean? I was just saying how long, the reason why I don't know how long it is. It was long. You have to gear up mentally to be out of your house and your comfort zone because like when I hear about these like year-long shoots, I was like,

it's so uproots your life. Obviously, we're all doing what we love to do, but it's how do you cope with that, with the uprooting? Go ahead, Jason. You've got a thought. I just started to think about what would the list look like in order of heartbreak of the things you would be missing, Sean, from home if you had to be shooting in Namibia?

Like, what would be number one? You'd be like, gosh, I just don't know when I'd get my next... Well, it's my bed. My bed is like, you know, for the sleep. Like, you want to sleep in your own bed, and you want your own couch. You bed with your fan, and what do you like when you sleep? You need a fan running, and what else? I need a fan, I need a pillow between my legs. I need two pillows, like a hard and a soft pillow and a thing. And a bowl full of Three Musketeer Minis. That's right.

Well, I got to wake up in the morning. It gets me going. It's got to be within reach at any... It can't be a king-size bed. We're not going to get into Sean's rider right now. The point is... But the point is, like, you have your... But it is hard going away... Yeah, it's really hard. I had my first kid. She was literally, I think, six weeks old. And I...

I got on a plane with her as a baby. I was a new mom and I was, I mean, I know Namibia a little bit because most of my family is from Namibia. Namibia used to be part of South Africa and then in the 90s it became independent. So Namibia was kind of familiar to me.

but not that familiar, but I also, I mean, I was crazy. - And Jason, don't get me started, 'cause I know, I know what has to be done for you to go away. - Yeah. - I would have passed on that. - I can back you on that. I've been a part of it. It's fucking pathetic. - Wait, no! - Jason can't even move to the Valley. - No. - Who are you fucking kidding? - Trust me, we had to shoot in the Valley a couple of times and it was rough. It was rough for him.

Nuh-uh. That is a word. But it was definitely long and it was the same scenery every single day. It wasn't as long as... It went way longer than we thought. So do you have to like mentally prepare like, okay, I'm going to be gone for this long. I need to... This is how it has to go. Whatever my... What's in my room? And like, you know, just so you can make it home because it's going to be your home. I...

I don't need a lot. I just like, I think for me, it was important just to know that I was safe because safety is a bit of an issue there. Yeah. And I had a new baby and that one became the biggest issue. You know, I was, it was just me and Jackson in the house and I got broken in like, you know, three in the morning, like five times. That was really scary. Over there. Yeah. Broken into while you're sleeping. You can hear like, where are we staying in like a tent?

No, I was thinking of this really nice house. Like they have all these beautiful coastal homes, like right on the water and they're gorgeous. I mean, it puts Malibu to shame, but unfortunately you're bringing in a big production, there's money and you were dealing with people who are living way below poverty. And so it's just, it's a, it's a recipe for disaster. So that part of it was my biggest concern was,

And the people that you would ostensibly hire for security would be local? Yeah, they were kind of part of the problem. I ended up feeling really safe because if you know the movie, the war boys, the majority of the war boys were actually real military, Australian military that George brought out. Not to be confused with hot cops, Will.

Got it, got it, got it. But I would text them when I would hear something. I would text them and literally like three minutes later I would see their flashlights coming in. And I just kind of relied on them and they kept me safe the whole movie. Right. Oh, my God. And then you wake up. I mean, that was a very physically like grueling part for you as well. And hot and dusty. Yeah. Right? It was actually cold, really cold. Really? It looks hot. Yeah, it was freezing.

We had a lot of cases of hypothermia, especially the young girls who only wear bandages. A lot of them got hypothermia. I was freezing just because when you don't have hair on your head, you forget. It's like a heat releaser. So it was really cold, actually. Now, I'd rather freeze than sweat. So that sounds good to me.

Yeah, absolutely. Would you have been happier if it was 110? I like it when I'm, when I have to do like action, I like colder better. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. For sure. It's harder for me to have a lot of, a ton of energy to like do fight scenes when it's

Like I just did this movie in Rome and it was one of the hottest summers. It was 115 degrees every single day. And I had to do these fight scenes out in like these Roman streets. And it was just like you couldn't keep fluid in your body. And were you wearing clothes and playing a character where you weren't supposed to be sweating? Like that's when...

Yeah, I mean, after a while, I'm just like, that's like the last thing I'm fucking thinking about. Let the sweat show. Yeah, I'm like, that's like the last of my... I'm like, can I just be able to walk? Like your feet start cramping because you just have no fluid in your body. So yeah, I definitely prefer a little colder. So many action films. I mean, you must have been injured beyond any...

ability to recuperate and keep schedules going forward. I mean, are there any stories of you just saying, all right, that's it. We're down for a couple of weeks with an injury. No, I don't know if it's stupidity or if it's just a high, I have a high, maybe a high tolerance for pain, but I, I, on the first old guard, I tore this, the tendon off this bone on my thumb and

It got stuck in a guy's, like his, yeah, and it just, he moved and he ripped my whole thumb backwards. Oh my God. And I, I mean, it was really painful. And I just kind of, you know, when you have an injury, you just kind of don't use it so much. And so I just didn't use it so much, but I had to do like three weeks of a big action sequence on a horse where I was riding with that hand and fighting with the right hand.

And so I was just in denial and then I came back and had surgery. It was just floating. There was like nothing holding it.

And I just finished the second one now. I just came back like 10 days ago and I just had shoulder surgery two days ago. No way. Cherise, you're not old, but you're not 15. No, I'm not. But, you know, I recover really fast and my body is in great shape. These are all just like superficial injuries. Like I actually, my shoulder is actually great. My knees are great. How's your stent the whole time? Huh?

Huh? How's your stunt double doing? Yeah. I mean, I bet you have the same one for years. I mean, listen, she does, like, you know, I'm not going to do stupid hard falls down a staircase or, like, you know, falling from a second. I don't do stuff like that. But she is. Is she still okay? Yeah, she's fucking 24. I mean, nothing hurts at 24. What about Liam Neeson's stunt double? He must be all banged up. My God. That poor bastard.

It's fun to do this stuff. I like it. I really love it. You need a nice sitcom. You need a nice sitcom for a season or two. No, I don't know. I think I'm not quite ready. I think maybe in another 10 years. Yeah? There's something so fucking invigorating about hanging off the side of a helicopter. It's amazing. You kind of got injured when you put on all that weight for Sully, right? I had more injuries on that movie, yes, just from gaining weight. I herniated a disc in my lower back.

We had that happen. Well, I gained like 50 pounds and then I had to wear a pregnancy belly that Jason Reitman, the director, thought would be a good idea to make the actual size, the weight of an actual. So it weighed like another 40 pounds and then he put me in a fitting and I had to put shoes on over and over. And just, you know, from bending and putting on shoes, I herniated a disc in my lower back. And that's been the worst injury I've ever had. Wow. We'll be right back.

All right, back to the show. Can I tell you something? This is a true story. Okay. First of all... Well, we're going to listen harder. Thanks for stopping. Go ahead, Sean.

- This is a true story. I was sitting there watching because you have this unbelievable ability to like we spoke about earlier, to lose yourself into every character you play. It's very rare that, you know, there's Philip Seymour Hoffman who was just like transformative. There's you who's always transformative. It's just an incredible feat. So I'm sitting there with Scotty, my husband watching Bombshell. I swear to God, I'm not making this up.

And like half hour, 40 minutes in, I'm like, where the fuck is Charlize Theron? I thought she was in this movie. And he's like, what, you idiot? That's her. And I'm like, as Megyn Kelly, I was blown away. I mean, you look like her. You sounded like her. It was so funny, you guys. I think it's like amazing. Fuck them. I'm enjoying this moment, Sean. I'm just looking at your screen right now. It's just me and you.

That's all I wanted to say. I remember the question. I was just like, I really truly was like, I thought Charlize was in this movie. Oh, that's nice. That's her. It is pretty impressive. I mean, it was mind-blowing. What about this new thing, School for Good and Evil? What are you doing in that, and why do you want to do it? What about it? Was it Paul Feig? Because he's a good dude. Yeah, he did a couple of episodes of Arrested Development. Yeah, he's such an amazing guy. I also just...

you know, I have two young kids now, seven and 10, and they're going to have to be like at least, you know, 52 to see any of my work. So there is a level of wanting to make stuff for them because they love this world, this kind of fantasy world. And it was also, oh, fuck, man, it was like towards the end of our lockdown and I was going stir crazy. I was homeschooling the two of them and

I obviously couldn't take a job because I didn't want to move them. You know, it just wasn't the right time to move a whole family somewhere. So it was a two-week job up in Belfast and they got me back in 14 days and my mom took the kids. And so that was nice too. But you know,

But yeah, mostly I did it for them. I want, you know, there's something, I don't know. There's something about, you know, kids that no matter who you are, you want to impress them. Like they're not impressed by Megyn Kelly. Like they're not impressed by me. And it's also proof of like, well, this is, you know, mom is busy, but I swear I'm busy doing stuff. I swear it. Like here's something you can see. It's proof. Yeah.

Well, they see the posters when we drive to the bus. They never see the movies, right? But they always see the posters and they spend time on set and things like that. So they think they know what the movie is.

And it's really funny when they're like, they see the poster and they just go, well, I don't know if that is the movie that I saw you make. How do you manage to do all of this work and still be such a great mom? Because I know you put an incredible time and focus to being an incredible mother. And I know that you've got incredible help from your mother, who is an incredible woman. But like, but as I said in the intro, 50 films, like you...

It takes a few months to do a movie, especially when you're the lead, like you always are. Like the math doesn't even work out. I don't know how you've gotten all that done and still been, you know. Well, I've been producing for, you know, close to two decades now. And I think that's really helped just taking some agency and making my own schedule. And so I really don't make anything like big.

I don't make any big movies unless I, you know, I push it into the summer where I can take my whole family. Like we all went to Rome for four months and, but you know, I get my kids back for school, but you're right. I can't do it without my mom.

And I'm always very vocal in acknowledging that I am co-parenting with her. And so that's kind of unusual for people to hear, but that is the truth. She really is very much a co-parent. I love that. Yeah, it's amazing. I'm so lucky. I'm so lucky. How much of, how much, because your mom's been there obviously the whole time and you are so close to her. How much do you talk to her about

what choices you make as a, you know, sort of artistically as a producer or as an actor. Do you have a relationship like that at all? Do you go like, hey, I'm thinking about doing this thing. What do you think? Do you take, do you sound stuff off of her in that way too or no?

So when I started, she was definitely... She was way more opinionated. I mean, she definitely... She's very direct. Jason, you've met her. She's very funny. She's very direct. She's kind of... She's broad. She's very...

very brassy and loud and she loves to swear and she's just very honest. So in the beginning when I started, there was a lot of like wanting her approval, but she would go and see some of my movies and just be like, that's a piece of shit. Before you even had the theater. Yeah. And I was like, you should come out and you could just tell on her face. She was like that.

But I appreciate it so much from her. It's kind of our relationship. I remember as a dancer too, when I was little, like I would have a competition or something. She was never the parent that would sugarcoat it. She wasn't like abusive about it, but she was very honest. I knew that when she said something was good,

I was like, fuck, that was, then that was really good. Yeah. You know, like I really believe that more than the negative stuff. It becomes like a real barometer for you. Exactly. I can really trust her. So it's not so much, I mean, I tell her obviously because she's part of it. I have to like clear her tennis and golf schedule out here so that she can like, you know, pack up and move with me. But, uh,

Yeah, she likes a lot of stuff. I mean, she loves the long shots. She likes those kind of movies way more. Yeah, yeah. But she loved this movie, this fantasy movie, The School for Good and Evil. She really loved it. I can't wait to see that. She's a big golfer. She's a big golfer. Let's double back to that. She's a big golfer and a really big tennis player. She's super athletic. She's going to be 70 next year, but she plays with 30-year-olds. I mean, she's ridiculous. She hikes every morning at 5 a.m.,

Three miles every morning with six dogs. She takes my dogs and her dogs. Then she goes and she walks 18 holes and then she plays tennis. No golf, no tennis for you?

I only play golf with her and usually just on Mother's Day, but I love tennis. But tennis is like a later sport that I just learned because I had to find something for cardio because I couldn't really run anymore. And so I found tennis and I was like, this is great cardio and I enjoy it. Tennis is great. What about the pickleball? We play a lot of golf. Jason and I play a lot of golf. No, not pickleball. I'm not there yet. No, I mean, isn't that like what pool people play? Yes, I think so. But it's sweeping the nation just because it's easy. It's really sweeping. Right.

Americans really love to fucking glom on. Do you guys play pickleball? I have played. Sean's got a pickleball court and a toilet right in the middle of the court.

I'm up for pickleball. I would love to learn. I've played before. I've played pickleball before. It ruins your tennis game. I don't advise it if you like tennis because it engages the wrist too much. I like ping pong, though. I used to play paddle a lot. Anybody like ping pong? Oh, I love ping pong. I have a ping pong table in my backyard. Are you trying to just bring up stuff that you don't have to move at all? Yeah, just my upper body. Xbox, what about that? I'd play that. TV, I like watching TV. Now, you seem like such a brave person.

What scares the hell out of you? What are you most afraid of? What's like your kryptonite? That's a great question. You do seem like a very brave person. Yeah. But earned bravery, though. You know, it's not fame. Kind of threw up in my mouth a little bit there. Yeah. Spit it out. I mean, moving when you're 19, you can't speak English, you're making that. I mean, a lot of that when I think back and now that I have kids, I'm like, that was just...

I feel like, you know, if I didn't come out of the circumstances that I did, my mom would have never done anything like that. And I don't think I would have done anything like that. But I came out of very complicated circumstances. You know, I didn't really, there wasn't a lot of choice. It was like swim or drown. Like, what are you going to do? Stay? Yeah, you're tough, though. You seem very, you're very tough. Like, you have this, you can kind of see it. You have this kind of resolve, this inner resolve that come, for me anyway, I've felt like it's always shone through. Yeah.

And you see them, I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, she's on top of her shit. She's very tough. Don't talk to her. Yeah. What about, like, bees? Because, like, bees will turn me into somebody I don't want to be seen. I think I've seen you, like, scream like a girl around a bee. I think I have, yeah. And I'll just run. I'll just disappear, like, with, like, a rocket flare, like a cartoon character. I'll just leave. I'll tell you, I saw a cockroach yesterday, and I did not handle it well. Yeah, I'm not good with those guys either. I did not handle it.

well, I really could not, I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to kill it, but I also didn't want it to live. I was really, I was very, really torn. And then I just, the idea of stepping on it, oh, I couldn't. It was like- What did you do then? I made somebody else do it. Yeah, you called somebody and did you instruct them not to kill it? No, this one lady was really brave. She just, she stepped on it. She took her shoe off and just did it.

I was very grateful, yes. Is there anything within sort of the realm and the bigger scope of what you do, so again, as an actor or a producer or writer, director, whatever, is there anything that you can think of that you think, that seems scary for me to do? Would you dance or sing? I mean...

I would dance. I would love to dance. I don't know. I don't think I would sing. I'm a terrible singer. Me too. Yeah, and I'm very uncomfortable singing. Like, I break out in hives. That's why Jason Reitman always makes me sing in his movies because he just loves torturing me. But I don't know. I mean, listen, I was really worried, scared. I was scared of doing Megyn Kelly. I really, you know, it's one of those things where...

you're like hoping for the best and you try and do as much work as possible, but there's no guarantee, right? And it's like, you go, you're like four or five weeks in and you still don't sound like her. And I did the first round of prosthetics and I looked like Glenn Close. Like, it was weird. Like, I was like, I don't know if this is going to work out. And so you feel like, you kind of feel like you're out on a limb and you're sort of without a net. Yeah, I was like, this can...

This can definitely go very wrong. Like, I definitely felt that. How about when in Prometheus, when you just lit some guy up on fire? That was like, you had like a fire machine and the guy was standing. A flamethrower, yeah. Was it a fire machine, Sean? Or whatever it's called. What?

I didn't really do that. Oh, you didn't? You had a fire gun. You had like a fire. Actually, that one did light up, minus like there was nobody in front of me, but it did light up. I think they did one where it kind of lights up a little bit. Oh, so that wasn't you just like blowing them to bits like that? No. Lighting them on fire? No. Oh, wow. I'm so sorry, Charlize. Holy fucking shit. I love that movie so much. You do? That's so sweet. Oh, my God. Welcome to Fan Fest, you know. Yeah.

I love that you go between Megyn Kelly and that. I've seen Prometheus like 10 times. I love it. And you know, it's wild. I mean, that house bender is pretty amazing. I did a deep dive on YouTube about it because the engineer, I don't know, never mind. These guys are going to fall asleep. No, I want it. Finish it. Let's have it. I want to know what you're deep diving on YouTube for. I don't know if this is true or not because Ridley Scott had it.

I don't know if it's true, but I heard that he had this original script that explained kind of the whole... They gave this engineer this dialogue that explained the whole movie, but he cut it, which was...

that in the Bible, when Jesus wasn't there for however many years, because, you know, the Bible cuts from when he was a kid to 30, that these engineers, these aliens came, picked him up, brought him to their planet, taught him how they should teach humanity, brought him back, and then that's what he tried to do, but they failed. And that's why these aliens want to come back and wipe it out because it's gotten so bad.

And you heard this where? Online, somewhere. Wow. I can't verify that for you. That's really interesting. It's fascinating, isn't it? And if it's not true, it's a good idea. It's a great idea. The world is round too, Sean. It's round. It's where? But anyway. I think some listeners right now are touching themselves. People really appreciate that kind of knowledge. Thank you. So thank you for sharing, Sean. Oh, I thought you'd been touching themselves. Like, am I fucking here? Is this...

Is this actually... Did I just pass out? What am I... Did I... Yeah. I didn't know if you knew, if you heard that, if that was true. No, I did not. No, you know why? Because she doesn't spend her time on Reddit with you and Scotty. Fucking putting in Prometheus fucking theories. Chat room. Scotty, we should get to bed. It's 4 a.m. Look at this thread. Look at this fucking thread. Fucking fuck, man. It's bad.

That stuff is fascinating to me. I know, Angel. I know. All right. Charlize, you're the greatest. You're the best ever. Okay.

Guys, I really love this show. Congratulations. I listen to it all the time when I'm stuck waiting to pick my kids up. It's a joy to listen to you guys. You're really funny. Thank you. Yeah. And thank you for having me. I guess you ran out of people. Yeah. Every time I would listen to it, I thought, yeah, Spirit Ho. Yeah, we're on the tease. Between Jason and Will...

Between both of you, I couldn't make... It's Will, but that's... Will, that's how we say it in Afrikaans. I was like, wow. I'm like, you guys must have really cleared your list. Even you, Sean. I know you, too. Like, what the fuck happened? Can I tell you something? What is it? Season 17? Can I tell you something right now? You've been on my list since day one. And obviously, Jason, you were on Jason's list as well. Yeah, and I was like, no, I get her. So Will is the one that we...

No, no, no. I had a different list and then it just, I don't know. I didn't have a pen. I didn't end up having a pen. Well, thank you for having me, you guys. We love you. Have a great rest of the day. Love you right back. You guys too. Thank you for doing this. All right. Bye. Bye. Bye, bye, bye. That was so funny. I love that. What is that theory for Prometheus? Is that really what it was about? Well, I mean, if there's this one guy's thing, he said he got a copy of the script and like,

that the whole point of the aliens wanting to wipe out Earth is because we're not getting it right. We're making the Earth worse. Why do you encourage me to tell it again? It's just repeating what he said. I'm just fascinated that you just like go in and look for meanings. Like when you saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, did you do a deep dive for the meaning of that? Yeah, that's pretty much straightforward. That's just from the book. That's one of my favorite movies. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? The original? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love that movie too. Yeah.

Great get. Now, that was just great to have our buddy Charlize on. How do you know her, Jason? I didn't know you knew her so well. Just from Arrested. In a movie. Didn't you guys make a movie together? Oh, that's right. And we also did. Wait, did I do Hancock before or after Arrested? After. After. After, yeah. After. Yeah, that was really, really fun. That was my first, maybe only, big budget movie. That was pretty impressive seeing that.

whole big superhero engine. Yeah, that was a huge movie that you did. But yeah, she came and did five episodes of Arrested Velvet, something like that. The most Canadian pronunciation of five. I ran into her at the airport when she was nominated for Monster. She was making the rounds and I was doing press too and there was this room. What were you doing press for, Sean?

Will and Grace or something. And we'd just done Oprah the same day. And I saw her at the airport and I did this big dance for her. And she looked at me like I... At the airport you did? Yeah, just trying to make her laugh. And she was like, what's wrong with you? Like she... Did you have time to get into it? Didn't land. Did you have time to get into what was wrong with you? No, no. If you were late for a flight, you must not have had time to answer that. Oh, right. Yeah.

What's wrong with you? But remember, so she did the show, and we had also had, remember we had Patty Jenkins the year before who directed Monster. Oh, yeah. Directed Arrested. She's great. Yeah, she was awesome. Wait, Patty Jenkins directed Arrested? Yeah, who went on to do Wonder Woman films and et cetera. Yeah, who's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys had great directors. We sure did. What's the name of the show? Oh, my God. It's so...

Should we come over? We should come over. Well, we'll go over to Sean's house and we'll watch some Arrested Development and then you come over to one of our houses. We'll watch Will and Grace together. Yeah, we'll watch Will and Grace. That sounds like a fun... We'll make a new podcast out of it. Yeah. You know, a little watch through. And we'll sign a contract that we each, we're all going to watch it and that contract will be bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

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