Charlize Theron is a South African actress and producer, known for her incredible body of work in all genres. Theron achieved critical acclaim with her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in Monster (2003), winning an Academy Award for Best Actress. Since then she has gone to appear in films like Young Adult, Atomic Blonde, and Mad Max: Fury Road. Jason Reitman is a film director, producer, and screenwriter. He’s most known for his work on films Up in the Air, Juno, and Young Adult. He’s become a frequent collaborator with writer Diablo Cody, with the upcoming Tully marking his third collaboration with the writer. Both teamed up, with Theron starring and Reitman directing, in the upcoming film Tully.

Screen Rant got a chance to chat with Charlize Theron and Jason Reitman on press day, where we discussed what real world inspiration was used for the film, how well Jason connects with writer Diablo Cody, and whether or not we will see a Mad Max spin off with Furiosa.

SR: I love this film, but it does terrify me if I ever were to become a parent. It seems completely terrifying now. This film obviously touches on parenting issues that are usually glossed over in other films like sleep deprivation and parental inadequacy. Was there any books or other films that you drew inspiration from?

SR: Interesting. So Charlize, you throw yourself into every single role you do and you completely transform yourself. Your characters really grounded, Marlo’s really grounded in the real world. Was there any personal experiences that you were able to draw from that you infuse the character with?

Jason Reitman: I mean, I think we’d all drew inspiration from just being parents and those who are conversations were like, uh, every morning, uh, with the cast, Diablo, Charlize, and I, sharing our stories from being parents, talking to the crew, talking to the cast, making sure we had a community on set that was open to go, all right, this is starting to happen to me. That’s something that happen to her, because we were looking for the realist, dirtiest detail from the overnight of being a new parent that can be exposed on screen.

SR: Jason, this is your third collaboration with Diablo Cody. Do you view this as a trilogy and it seems like you understand her work so well and you completely get the subtext of what she’s doing. Why is it, do you think you guys clicked so well?

Charlize Theron: Yeah, I mean there was a lot of this that when I read it, it kind of came to me at a time when I had just gotten out of that dark place. I had a seven month old at the time and so it was all very fresh. You tend to forget that stuff as time goes by, but I was freshly just kind of moving out of it. So when I read it it was definitely, there was a lot of it that I kind of just like I could breathe. I felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders because there’s a lot of it that you don’t talk about. That was kind of on the page and I was so grateful for that.

SR: Switching gears for a second, a lot of our fans at Screen Rant would like to know, your character in Mad Max took off and there’s always been rumors that there was possibly a spinoff to that. Do you…

Jason Reitman: I wish I knew the answer to that and you know, we met over a decade ago here in Los Angeles and what I didn’t know at the time was that we were starting this journey together. This journey that will hopefully continue into the future. We’re all around the same age, Diablo, Charlize, and I, and we seem to be on some sort of path with this connective tissue and Diablo has a way of articulating the things that we’re all feeling. And so each time a new screenplay comes, it hits us right at the moment in our lives where we really want to say these things. I almost don’t want to over analyze it too much.

SR: The Furiosa spinoff.  Is it possible that it’s still in the works or do you think it’s possible at all?

Jason Reitman: Wait, this was the spinoff was there another…

Charlize Theron: (Laughs).

MORE: Read Screen Rant’s Tully Review

Charlize Theron: I hope so. I love that character. I loved working with George Miller and if he was ever on board. Yeah, I mean I would be in right from the beginning. I mean with him it’s kind of like working with Jason. I wouldn’t even need to see a script. I trust him that much. Yeah, and it’s great when you will have that with a filmmaker.

  • Tully Release Date: 2018-05-04