"Eyes were on us"- Charlize Theron opens up about starring in female lead action movies like The Old Guard 2

Charlize Theron, whose freshly released sequel The Old Guard 2 is out on Netflix, spoke about an urgent and important issue that has been persisting in the industry.

While conversing with the NY Times, with her co-star Uma Thurman, the Hancock actor talked about the double standards and prejudice the film industry has regarding women-led action films. So, when Theron was working as a lead in The Old Guard 2, this is what was in her mind:

"With ‘THE OLD GUARD 2’, we were very aware that eyes were on us. It’s not a risk that studios want to take, but they’ll take it many times on the same guy who might have a string of action movies that did not do so well.”

Let us find out what more The Old Guard 2 actor Charlize Theron has to say about the gender bias in the Hollywood industry towards women-led action films.

"Yeah, it’s harder. That’s known"- The Old Guard 2 star Charlize Theron makes her feelings known about the gender inequity towards women-led action films

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While speaking to the New York Times, actor Charlize Theron does not shy away from challenging the persisting age-old gender bias in the industry in the action genre of films, as she says:

“Yeah, it’s harder. That’s known,”

In the interview, Theron mentions how women-led action films do not receive enough support as opposed to men starring in them, regardless of how those men-led films perform. She expressed her angst against the prevailing sexism in the industry, which puts unfair pressure on women actors to become 'successful' in their action-led projects.

The Old Guard 2 star further states:

"Action films with female leads don’t get greenlit as much as the ones with male leads. I think the thing that always frustrates me is the fact that guys will get a free ride. When women do this and the movie maybe doesn’t hit fully, they don’t necessarily get a chance again."

Charlize Theron has had an illustrious career in the film industry since 1995. And in her diverse filmography, she has been incredibly successful in a string of iconic action-led films as well, such as the Fast & Furious films (2017, 2021, 2023), Atomic Blonde (2017), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Italian Job (2003), and the predecessor of the current sequel itself, The Old Guard (2020).

Further in the interview, Theron also spoke about the physical struggles she has experienced as a result of partaking in action films, as she adds:

“I run into people and they’re like, ‘Oh, what happened to your arm?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, I just had surgery.’ And they’re like, ‘The last time I saw you, you had surgery!’ I had an unfortunate injury on the first action attempt I ever did, for a bad movie called Aeon Flux. On day nine, I did a back handspring, and I didn’t get enough height, and I landed on my neck on a concrete bridge. I had the last surgery on my neck 18 years ago. I’ve had surgery on both elbows, my right shoulder, my thumb, carpal tunnel, fractures. A lot of fractures,”

While speaking to Variety, Charlize Theron talked about the high-stakes stunt she performed while filming The Old Guard 2, where she was dangling on a helicopter. She states:

“We did it towards the end, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, if I pull this off, I’m gonna be okay with never doing a stunt again.’ That didn’t last long, but it was intricate. It was psychological. The first two weeks of it was sitting down with the pilot and building trust. It was slow moves. But by the end, I was hanging off a helicopter, so who cares?”

“I was hanging in the air, going, ‘I’m going to never be able to stop saying that I hung off a helicopter.’”

Even actor Tom Cruise, too, in his most recent film, Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning, performed a similar stunt involving helicopters, and the audience was enamored by the actor's rigor and passion towards the craft. Similarly, it is high time the work of women actors gets duly recognized as much as we applaud male actors.

The Old Guard 2 was released on 2nd July 2025. Along with Theron and Uma Thurman, the film stars KiKi Layne, Marwan Kenzari, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli and many others.