Charlize Theron found unexpected motivation during her Apex training sessions, and it came from watching her 11-year-old daughter August scale climbing walls with effortless ease.
The Oscar winner brought August along to the gym while training with professional climber Beth Rodden for her new action film, and the tween quickly made her own mark on the sessions.
“She’s a bit of a daredevil,” Theron told E! News exclusively at the film’s New York City premiere on 22 April.
“Beth and I would be working on one side, and whenever I got tired, I would just look over and the two of them were just going up these walls.”
August would climb alongside Rodden’s ten-year-old son, and watching the two children attack the walls without hesitation gave Theron exactly the push she needed.
“Sometimes, as an adult, you get so caught up in the mechanics of it,” she said.
“And then you just look over and these kids who know nothing, they’re just like, ‘Gotta get to the top.’ And you’re like, ‘OK, that’s all I have to do. Just get to the top.’ It was fun to share that with her.”
For the 50-year-old, the experience spoke to something broader about physical performance and acting.
“Our physical bodies can say a lot. We as actors sometimes use words as a crutch and when you strip all of that away, it’s a really, really good exercise for actors to really understand that mind and body has to be connected.”
She was quick to clarify, though, that her appetite for action roles is not something she sits around waiting for.
“I like being an actor that can diversify, but this was, to me, such a bad ass movie.”
As for how she plans to celebrate Mother’s Day with daughters August and 14-year-old Jackson? Rather more quietly.
“They better bring me tea or something in bed. Hint, hint.”
Apex, also starring Taron Egerton, premieres globally on Netflix on 24 April.
