Charlize Theron Reflects on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ a Decade Later: “There’s a Deep Connection to This Film”

Ahead of her upcoming honor at the Academy Museum Gala this fall, Charlize Theron stopped by the museum on Saturday night for a discussion about one of her biggest — and most famously fraught — projects, in Mad Max: Fury Road .

The 2015 action film, set in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland, stars Theron as warrior Imperator Furiosa, who leads the daring escape of female prisoners from a tyrannical ruler. She co-stars alongside Tom Hardy (playing former captive Max Rockatansky), and the two majorly butted heads throughout the production. The film still went on to major critical and commercial success, landing 10 Oscar nominations and six wins. Related Stories Movies 'Fast & Furious' Stars Tease Upcoming TV Series and Final Movie 'Fast Forever': No More "007, Bring Your Cars to Space Sh**" TV Jerry Seinfeld Applauds Ted Sarandos' Impact on Hollywood: "The Most Loved Industry Executive I Have Ever Seen"

At the event, Theron was interviewed on stage by Shyla Corona and Kamila Gomez, two members of the Academy Museum Teen Council, ahead of a Fury Road screening. They touched on the star’s character preparation process and her 2004 Oscar win for Monster , as Theron began to cry, reflecting on her journey from a small town in South Africa to the Oscar stage. “It doesn’t make sense, you know,” Theron said as she wiped away tears, teasing the teen moderators, “You guys suck. I have my daughters here tonight; they can’t see me cry.” She added of her Academy Awards moment, “It’s a true testament that dreams come true, you know. And if it can happen to me, trust me, it can happen to anybody.”

When it came time to talk Fury Road , the girls asked if Theron had a favorite memory from the shoot. As she paused, the crowd began to laugh in acknowledgement of the behind-the-scenes drama, to which the actress responded, “I actually do, OK!” She went on to explain how her oldest daughter was just six weeks old when production began, and she hadn’t arranged a nanny before filming.

Instead, Theron said, “All of the girls in this film and [co-star] Nick Hoult basically raised her for the six months that we were in Namibia. She was in the rig with us; [during filming] she was with the driver and my assistant, but in between takes I was feeding her in the rig and the girls would hold her and then she would fall asleep or she’d puke on Nick.”

“Those are some of my favorite memories because she learned to walk on that movie, so yeah, there’s a deep connection to this film,” she continued before joking with the crowd, “All of you who thought I was gonna tell a different story, shame on you, shame on you!”

Theron also spoke about some initial conflict she had with her character because “I’m allergic to good people, like heroic people who do everything right and for the right reasons” and with Furiosa rescuing women in the movie, “I didn’t really know how to play that.”

“She wants to burn the world down, and you can’t do that as a hero. It took me a while.