Charlize Theron's The Boys Cameo Might've Been More Than She Bargained For
Stick around long enough as an A-lister and you'll eventually find yourself as part of a superhero franchise. That seems like a fait accompli these days, and few know that better than Charlize Theron. The "Mad Max: Fury Road," "Atomic Blonde," and "The Old Guard" actor found herself playing a small but significant role in two wildly different superhero franchises this year — a post-credits scene cameo in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and another cameo as the hilariously re-imagined Nazi Supe-villain Stormfront in the opening scene of the season 3 premiere of "The Boys."
Even with the show receiving the greenlight for season 4, we shouldn't expect to see Theron reprise her role as Stormfront in the in-universe "Dawn of the Seven" movie that's clearly meant to spoof Zack Snyder's DC films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. But the movie star embraced the wackiness wholeheartedly, chewing up and spitting out the scenery while delivering lines of dialogue like, "You'll always be in my heart, but the Fourth Reich is in my soul." That's the sort of commitment that deserves to be praised even in intentionally absurd roles such as this, though Theron herself may not have been fully prepared for exactly what she was getting herself into.
That's according to "The Boys" creator and showrunner Eric Kripke, who shed some light to ScreenRant on the process of bringing Theron on board in such grand, over-the-top style.
'The commitment she gives to those stupid, ridiculous lines'
One of the strengths of "The Boys" comes from filling each role — no matter how large or small — with some of the most impressive talent out there. This season, producer Seth Rogen and Eric Kripke managed to land Charlize Theron for a brief cameo as a "favor" ... but it turned out to be a little more intensive than the actor may have initially assumed.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Kripke humorously opened up about how Theron ended up with the role: "...she got in through the rigorous process of whoever returned Seth Rogen's calls." More seriously, the showrunner went on to say:
"But I feel she probably was like, 'Yeah, I'll do a favor. It's like a pop-in cameo, right? Okay, cool.' And then the next call is from wardrobe, who needs to fit her for her super suit. And then she has to show up on a full day of production with all of these cameras. I think maybe it was more than she bargained for. The commitment she gives to those stupid, ridiculous lines. I was talking to her that morning, and I was like, 'It's the most serious thing in the world.' And she so delivers with such heart that I hope Seth bought her something very nice, because she did a lot for us."
When it comes to "The Boys," viewers know that there's really no such thing as just a simple, straightforward scene. The production crew went above and beyond to fill the set of the "Dawn of the Seven" film with as much detail and destruction as they could, setting the tone for the rest of the episodes to come. Theron only plays an incredibly brief role, but everyone can agree that she sure made the most of it.