Top 216 Quotes & Sayings by Charlize Theron - Page 4

Fran McDormand was great because she said, 'What I used to do when I worked with him was I would just walk on the set and I would give him a big hug. Somehow his guard would just drop.' So I took that advice.

I tend to ... if I decide to do a job, want to be able to trust my director...

I am going home and I think in a week or so, hopefully, I'll be done with all the press stuff, and then I can kind of into my cave and start preparing for "Mad Max."

There's always been a celebration of what is that moment, whoever I am at that moment in my life. [It] is a very real way of looking at beauty.

I don't want to live in a world where I just kind of play on my naïveté - well if I don't know it, then it doesn't exist.

I think since I did Monster I really started understanding how hard it is for first time directors. I think there's a lot of great stories out there, but it's high risk.

I can be a really good mother because I'm happy.

In the story, I think as an actor you're just trying to fit into the world.

I don't believe in making five-year plans. I don't want to say, "Yes, I want to have children in the next five years," because I don't know. I've always known that I'd like to be a mom, but I don't want to live by a schedule. If I [did], I wouldn't be living in the moment.

I think there is a part of me that's always a little bit like, "Why would I torture myself? Just in case you forgot how big the shoes are you're walking in, take a look again". Like, I think I pussy out. So, I'm not that kind of person.

I just want to make good movies. Honestly, the only difference for me with this stuff is that there is more people on the set.

If you were a single mom, there's no way to support yourself and your kids by working in a hair salon. It's about a woman who decides to go and do what was considered a man's job, but was treated quite horribly for it and decides she has to fight for her rights when everyone thinks she should just shut up and take it.

It's so great as an actor to get the opportunity to do something that's incredibly truthful.

I think some of the most creative work is coming out of television. I felt it's very immediate and I like that. It's really fast. It's got a pace to it, and that's why I think everybody in my field wants to just do good material.

Other than vaccines and finding a cure, most funding goes toward putting people on treatment. That's completely valid and I understand that, but it's never how we're going to stop AIDS.

The human condition is all about us pretending to be something sometimes that we're not. When you get into the core of people kind of stripping all of that away, that's for me, as an actor, always the most fun stuff to do.

I think writing a book with film in mind is a way to write a really bad books. You can usually tell those books that are packaged to become films.

Remember I came to Albuquerque to do a hair and makeup test and wardrobe fitting; you guys were already shooting. It's tough when the movie's already started and you kind of show up. You're the new kid on the block. I walked onto the set and Tommy [Lee Jones] was about to do the scene. I just kind of walked up to him. I was shaking, but I just gave him this big hug and he just had nothing to say. He was like, 'Gotta go to work now.' I had a great time working with him."

I love the idea of longevity in this career. But [producing] is not about, "Let me do this because this might happen 20 years down the line." Sleepwalking wasn't a vehicle for me, it was a film that pushed the ­envelope. I want to produce good stories, versus creating a niche where I can look after myself as an actor.

The idea of stuff just hanging in my closet and not being used - there's a little bit of the African in me that gets bothered by that [somewhat].

In life we want to challenge ourselves...

When I find something that I really like and I can get it off, then I put my time and energy into that. It is a lot of work....

Whatever field you can do that, that's where you want to do it, and I think that's why people like David Fincher and Ridley Scott are interested in it, too, because when you sit down on a meeting in HBO and they're like, "More, more." You're just like, "Oh yeah, I love this." Sometimes it's a little harder in film. I think also it's a great audience, take advantage of it. It's a great audience.

I'm a tough girl, and I can go without a shower bot a week and be fine with that. But I will not sleep on dirty sheets.

I want to be in a good movie, and so the narrative is way more important.

A while back there was this fad where a big star [would get] a producing credit and you'd ask around, and people were like, "No, they didn't produce, they just took the credit." I was flabbergasted. So when I started, people were weirded out by the fact that I was like, "How long is our prep? I'll come a week before that." They were like, "We're not shooting for six weeks."

I'd be unbelievably wrong to say there isn't such a thing as the right place, right time-luck.

I'm interested in human behavior, and what happened in my family life is definitely not a unique story. There are aspects of that I'm sure you can see through the work. But I'm just looking for something that touches me.

You can shave your head, but I've had to gain a lot of weight for movies, I've had to drop weight really fast for movies. I've had to learn accents or embody physical behaviors or twitches and things like that. And sometimes you take to some things easily and sometimes [not]. That's the challenge of the job.

I do have a sense of fear every day going to work, but I think it's something that I like. I mean I do like the feeling of waking up on my own, having this moment of like: "Oh, f**k, I hope I can do this today!" Because it makes you realise that you're working with material or you're working with a director or you're working with a cast and they're keeping you on your toes.

As you get older, you get wrinkles and your boobs sag. But you get wisdom, too. So it's not all bad!

I feel like I know South Africans. I feel like I know our culture.

I look at my career and how I'm doing it now. I feel like there is something authentic in that process that I still try not to over manipulate. When I feel something, I try to listen to that.

The fabric of my life is under my skin; [but] it's definitely not something that comes up in a conscious way when I read material. I have an incredible relationship with my mom, so I'm fascinated by mothers who do not have that. But I've never done anything that resembled my life. People always jump to that conclusion, and I wish life were that simple, but it's not.

You're very in tune with, because actors are all different, and it's very tricky when you throw us all together because we all work differently. You want to get the best work out of every individual actor.

I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I don't want to be anything other than what we are. I want to just be a woman.