Charlize Theron hosted the fourth annual block party for her Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project on Saturday, where she also shared her reaction to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Furiosa, which was released in late May, served as a prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, and saw Anya Taylor-Joy portraying the early life of warrior Imperator Furiosa, whom Theron played in Fury Road.
Theron confirmed she had seen the new movie and told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s amazing, it’s a beautiful film.” When asked if she had talked to Taylor-Joy at all throughout the process or since its release, Theron explained, “No, we’ve really been trying to connect. It’s been one of those — we can actually make a comedy out of it. We keep running into each other and in places when we don’t have time to really talk to each other, so we’re constantly like, ‘Oh my god, OK, let’s get together!’ And then life takes over. But it will happen when it’s right.”
For now, Theron’s focus is on CTAOP, the organization she launched in 2007 to the support the health and safety of young people in South Africa. The star was born in South Africa and CTAOP’s programs have reached over 4 million young people there since its launch, with focuses on HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, education and gender-based violence.
Looking back on the last 17 years and what she knows now that she wishes she knew then, Theron said, “I wish I was calmer about the fact that you don’t change things overnight. I think when we started it was very overwhelming because these are really big problems — they’re not easy to fix, and unfortunately they’ve been around for a long time. And so tackling something that is that broad, we went in kind of specific with HIV and AIDS; we’ve really become more holistic in really understanding that there’s a lot of things that we have to look at when we talk about young people.”
Lee Isaac Chung, Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Charlize Theron and producer Patrick Crowley.
Presley Ann/Getty Images for CTAOP
Saturday’s block party event, held on the Universal Studios backlot, once again supported the organization while also celebrating the release of a new Universal film; this year, Twisters was the film being toasted, with director Lee Isaac Chung and stars Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Brandon Perea in attendance.
Inside the event, Theron thanked the Twisters team for taking part “because I know you guys are at the end of a very long press junket week — whatever that’s called, a wide desert that you have to cross. I’ve been there, it’s exhausting and I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time and the energy to be here tonight. It’s hard work and I don’t care, I’m still going to make you work tonight.”
Taking the mic, Chung responded, “I’m so touched by what you just said but honestly we love being here [for] the work that you’re doing with CTAOP. Movies are meant to just bring good to people, I honestly believe that. That’s what we’re hoping to do as a team with this film, we’re trying to create a party for the summer, so it feels fitting to be here at this party.”
Lainey Wilson and Tanner Adell, who have songs in the movie, performed at the event. The backlot was also decked out with plenty of Twisters-inspired features, including a wind machine — which Powell and Edgar-Jones tried out together — and a mechanical bull. The CTAOP Block Party was sponsored by Dior, CAA, Breitling, Universal Pictures and Solyco Capital.