Charlize Theron might be a certified action star now, but even she gets a little starstruck—especially when facing off against one of her own heroes. Stopping by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to kick off the press tour for The Old Guard 2, Theron didn’t hold back her admiration for her co-star and action movie royalty, Uma Thurman.
“We knew each other kind of offhand, but I knew her from being a massive fan, just watching her work, and always wanted to do something with her,” Theron told Kimmel.
“Because when I came into the action world, she was really, to me, like, the sensei. She was the OG.”
Theron’s respect isn’t misplaced.
Thurman’s role as The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga basically rewrote the rulebook for female-led action.
And while Charlize may now rule the genre with titles like Æon Flux, Hancock, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Atomic Blonde under her belt, she clearly hasn’t forgotten who blazed the trail.
Kimmel chimed in, “She should’ve won the Academy Award for Kill Bill, right?”
Without skipping a beat, Theron agreed, “A hundred percent,” she said, before calling out the industry imbalance.
“It’s usually just men who get a lot of credit for these [types of] movies. What she did in that film was just so unbelievable.”
But admiration didn’t make their on-screen face-off any less nerve-racking.
Theron confessed, “She’s just such a badass. So since I’ve been in action movies I’ve been like, ‘Who do I want to work with and do an action sequence with?’ It’s always been Uma Thurman. Always.”
The Old Guard, originally released on Netflix in 2020, made a major splash, racking up 72 million views in its first four weeks.
Now, the sequel promises even more high-octane action with Theron leading the returning crew, including Kiandra “KiKi” Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Thurman and Henry Golding join the party this time around—because what’s better than one action icon? Two.