Charlize Theron exposes Hollywood's gender bias in action films: 'Men keep getting chances after flops'
Charlize Theron has openly criticized Hollywood’s unequal treatment of men and women in the action film industry, particularly when it comes to box office performance and career opportunities. In a recent conversation with The New York Times, the Oscar-winning actor expressed her frustration with a longstanding disparity she has personally encountered throughout her career. According to Theron, women are frequently held to stricter standards, and if an action movie led by a female actor underperforms, it often spells the end of similar opportunities for her. In contrast, male actors routinely receive continued backing, even following a series of box office failures.
Charlize Theron calls out Hollywood for favoring men in action films despite box office flops, while women rarely get a second chance.
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Theron, whose experience in the genre spans nearly two decades, pointed to her own trajectory since starring in 2005’s Æon Flux. Despite the film’s poor reception, she continued to pursue physically demanding action roles in projects like Atomic Blonde, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Netflix’s The Old Guard series. However, she noted that the leeway she has observed granted to male counterparts is rarely extended to women. “It’s harder. That’s known,” she stated plainly when asked about gender inequality in action movies. She added that studios remain hesitant to approve projects with female leads, even though they repeatedly greenlight male-led action films regardless of past performance.
What particularly irritates Theron is the recurring pattern where studios are quick to withdraw support for women after a single commercial miss, whereas male actors are given multiple attempts to rebound. “When women do this and the movie maybe doesn’t hit fully, they don’t necessarily get a chance again,” she explained. In her view, the disparity is not subtle; studios consciously choose to take repeated risks on the same male leads who may have a history of underperforming, while showing minimal patience with female-led projects.
Currently headlining The Old Guard 2 for Netflix, Theron continues to push physical limits for her roles, even as the toll on her body accumulates. She shared that her commitment to stunt-heavy performances has resulted in numerous injuries over the years. Her first serious accident occurred during the production of Æon Flux, when a miscalculated back handspring left her landing on her neck on a concrete surface just nine days into filming. That incident required neck surgery, and over the years, she has endured multiple additional procedures, including operations on both elbows, her shoulder, thumb, and wrist, along with a number of fractures.
As for her latest performance, Theron revealed to Variety that one of the standout sequences in The Old Guard 2 involved hanging off a helicopter, an elaborate and psychologically intense stunt that became a career milestone. She detailed how the scene required weeks of preparation, starting with building trust with the pilot and progressing through cautious trial runs. Ultimately, she was able to perform the demanding stunt successfully, even joking that it could have been her final one—although her drive to tackle such challenges clearly remains intact.
