Charlize Theron Defends 'Bombshell' Being Directed By A Man: "We Shouldn't Compartmentalize These Stories To One Sex"

While the buzz surrounding “Bombshell” has been growing more and more as we approach the release date, it’s interesting to look back and realize that there was a point in time, not that long ago, that the film about Roger Ailes and his sexual misconduct was almost completely killed. And according to star Charlize Theron, the fact that Annapurna dropped out of the production weeks before it was to begin filming was shocking and disappointing.

For those that don’t remember, back in October 2018, Annapurna announced that it was dropping financing from two films “Hustlers” and “Bombshell.” At the time, the films being booted was chalked up to the production company’s financial woes. In a new interview with the New York Times, Theron says that the decision made by Annapurna was especially difficult to come to terms with, as they made a similar film, the Christian Bale-led “Vice,” but chose to cut the one starring a bunch of women.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you hear your financier wants to back out, especially when it’s almost half the cost of something that they’ve already done with a man,” said Theron.

Luckily, for those involved, “Bombshell” did eventually find another financier, even on the brink of collapse. And it appears from the early buzz, the film is going to be a contender come awards season, which makes the investment that much easier to justify.

But another intriguing issue surrounding the film is the fact that “Bombshell” is directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph, both of whom are men. In recent years, we’ve seen film fans and industry folks criticize certain films for having such a female-focused plot and being directed by men. However, for Theron, she doesn’t think you can lump “Bombshell” in with other films that don’t make inclusivity and representation behind the camera a priority.

“Well, the easiest response I can come up with is a woman didn’t decide to tell the story,” she explained. “If this was an article that I bought for my production company, I think my first instinct would be to go to a woman, but I didn’t pick the writer. The writer picked the story and did all the work on his own.”

Theron continued, “But this is such a great example of how we should not compartmentalize these stories to just one particular sex being able to tell it. I want to see more opportunity for female writers and filmmakers, but I also think that it’s a mistake to isolate men completely from that process. When you find the right man to tell that story, there’s real value in that.”

“Bombshell” arrives in theaters on December 13.