Charlize charms Namibia

The
36-year-old Hollywood actress from Benoni is in Namibia for the shoot
of the film Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s the fourth in the Mad Max series
which originally gave a massive boost to Mel Gibson’s career.

Manti
Bekker of The Beach Lodge says Theron, her adopted son Jackson, an
assistant and a driver came to the lodge’s restaurant, The Wreck, for a
meal last Tuesday evening.

“We didn’t know she was coming because the reservation wasn’t in her name. Later members of the film team joined them too.”

Bekker
says she asked Theron if they were enjoying their stay in Namibia, to
which the actress spontaneously responded by hugging her and suggesting
they have a photo taken together.

“Charlize spoke English all the time, but later she said, ‘Bly te kenne’ (which means ‘pleased to meet you)in Afrikaans.”

Her assistant said they had rented a private house for the duration of the filming.

According
to Bekker, Theron appeared to be quite relaxed with her hair shaved
off, but for the photo she fetched a hat from the car. “The quality of
the photo is not very good, because it was taken with my cellphone, but
for a once in a lifetime opportunity like this, I don’t mind.”

Theron shaved off her blonde locks early in June for the role of Furiosa in the new film.

Heidi
Snyman, owner of the Hotel Schweizerhaus, also caught a glimpse of the
Oscar winner when she stopped at the hotel’s deli “a few days ago”.

“My daughters recognised her immediately, but we only saw her when she left. She was wearing a woollen hat.”

Meanwhile,
a photo of Theron holding Jackson on her hip but without a hat and
showing a new short hairstyle, is doing the rounds on the internet. It
was apparently taken in Namibia.

This is not the first time the Oscar winner has changed her appearance for a role.

In
the 2003 film Monster, in which she played the role of a serial killer
and won an Oscar, she put on weight and wore prosthetic teeth and heavy
make-up to make herself look wasted and run-down.

– Theron has just been named by Forbes as one the five most highly paid actresses in the world.

Kristen
Stewart of the Twilight Saga is in first place, with an estimated $34,5m
(R282m) earned between May 2011 and May 2012.