Charlize Theron is a pro when it comes to the action films, as she’s gained more than a few credits over the course of her career. Still, even the most experienced action stars can suffer accidents on set, and that’s exactly what happened to Theron while she was filming Netflix’s The Old Guard. Yet it sounds like she handled things like a champ.
The actress revealed that during her last few weeks of shooting Gina Prince-Bythewood’s upcoming comic book adaptation, she tore a tendon in her left thumb. As she kept working, her co-workers would stress the seriousness of the injury, but Charlize Theron was able to push through the pain:
I definitely cried quite a bit. Everybody kept saying, ‘This is probably serious,’ and I was like, ‘We can’t talk about that right now. We just have to keep going because what are we going to do? We have three more weeks to shoot. We’ve got to get through it.
Charlize Theron would ultimately need three surgeries on her left arm after completing production on the film. But based on her comments to EW, it seems the actress has no regrets about how she chose to handle things.
Well, if that’s not commitment, I don’t know what is. It’s one thing for an actor to fully commit to a role mentally, but it’s a whole other thing to show that dedication physically. Though when actors sign on for physically demanding parts, they typically know what they’re getting into from the start.
These kinds of injuries can happen as early as pre-production, during which stars typically train to get prepared for the shoot. Charlize Theron actually cracked two of her back teeth while training for Atomic Blonde. And as with her thumb, the actress had to undergo surgery to repair the damage that was done.
007 star Daniel Craig also understands just how dangerous filming can become. While shooting the latest Bond flick, No Time To Die, the actor injured his ankle, which caused filming to be delayed.
Of course, actors aren’t the only ones who deal with on-set injuries, as stunt doubles typically bear the brunt of the pain. For instance, while rehearsing a scene for Dark Phoenix, Sophie Turner’s stunt double broke her leg. And in a more unfortunate situation, one stuntwoman who worked on Deadpool 2 actually lost her life. It’s for these reasons stunt actors are considered to be the unsung heroes of the industry.
Even though actors don’t put themselves through the ringer like their stunt counterparts do, cases like Charlize Theron’s shouldn’t be discounted. Her ability to work through the pain and finish out production is certainly commendable.
You can see her performance in The Old Guard when it hits Netflix on July 10.
