Spring Break
Sleepwalking: An interview with Charlize Theron and Nick Stahl
Liza Atamy
Issue date: 3/13/08 Section: Student Culture
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The interview took place at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco on March 3, 2008.
Academy Award winner Theron, who won in 2004 for Best Actress for her role as female serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster," has portrayed her talent in a wide variety of performances ranging from comedy to action to epic-drama.
Her movie credits also include: "The Devil's Advocate," "The Cider House Rules," "Sweet November" and "The Italian Job."
Her co-star Nick Stahl can be remembered from the HBO series "Carnivale" and his roles in "Sin City" and "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."
Theron had a dual responsibility in "Sleepwalking": producing the film and playing troubled mother Joleen Reedy.
"Screenwriter Zac Stanford submitted the script to my company," Theron said. "We read it, and it stuck with me. I woke up the next morning and kept thinking about it."
Theron said there was something about the script that captured her.
"It's very hard to explain that creative choice when you read material," she said. "At the end of the day for me, it is an emotional feeling that grabs me."
Theron said she was very fortunate to have her "dream cast" sign on to the project.
For co-star Nick Stahl, it was the story that captured him.
"When I read it, it was a very simple story and very character-driven," Stahl said. "Actors look for movies like that where we have the chance to drive the story."
Stahl said his character, James Reedy, was very "introspective and was a creature of habit with his simple job."
Stahl's character has many demons to fight, but the underlying source of his problems and insecurities is his abusive father, who James finally comprehends and must learn to overcome.
"He's a haunted guy," Stahl said. "He is haunted by his past and goes back to see his father thinking things might be different.
"He sees for the first time the viciousness of his father by watching his niece go through the same thing his sister went through years ago."
Stahl said the foundation of James' and Joleen's circumstances was the "pre-contentious family they were raised in" and they were "products of an abusive household."
The viewer comes to understand that the persisting habits of Joleen and the self-conscious nature of James are embedded within them because of the physical and emotional abuse they had endured from their father for years.
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