Key Points
Charlize Theron shocked New Yorkers on Friday when she scaled a massive billboard in the heart of Times Square.
The stunt was to promote her new action flick, Apex, costarring Taron Egerton and streaming now on Netflix.
Theron trained with “badass” rock climber Beth Rodden and performed all her own stunts in the film.
Charlize Theron just proved she performs her own stunts.
On Friday, the Oscar winner scaled a massive billboard atop Times Square’s Pentacular to promote Apex, her new action flick streaming now on Netflix.
As curious New Yorkers watched from below on 7th Avenue, Theron – wearing a safety harness, of course – climbed a faux rock wall several stories high. At the summit, she waved to onlookers and danced as they cheered.
“That’s actually her?” marveled a pedestrian in a video captured by New York digital creator Mickey Blank.
In Apex, Theron stars as a rock climber who finds herself being hunted by a serial killer (Taron Egerton) while stranded in the Australian Outback.
Charlize Thereon stands beside ‘Apex’ billboard in Times Square
Credit: Aeon/GC Images
For the action-packed film, she trained with rock climber Beth Rodden, who famously ascended Yosemite’s difficult Meltdown surface.
“Hearing her story and her expertise, I thought, this is the most badass, best climber you could be with,” Theron told Netflix. “She’s the OG.”
But she wasn’t so convinced of her own capabilities. “I’d never climbed before, except as a kid in Africa climbing trees, which I loved,” said Theron. “And I weirdly climbed barefoot, so I was kind of prepping for this movie without knowing it.”
Charlize Theron in ‘Apex’ streaming on Netflix
Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix
Theron began training on a rock-climbing wall, and although strength and endurance are obviously a big part of it, so is instinct.
“I just remember on the first day I would ask her, ‘So what should I do?'” recalled Theron. “I kept asking that a couple of times, and then it finally sank in to me. Her response was always, ‘I don’t know.'”
Along the way, the actress also channeled her character, Sasha, a widow who finds solace in climbing after the tragic death of her husband during one of their tandem excursions.
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“There were days that I would go, and I was going through stuff,” she explained, “and it just felt like a way to forget about things.”
Apex is now streaming on Netflix.
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