bronzed bombshell; As Charlize Theron handles life after Oscar, Jonathan Van Meter catches up with her in Berlin and finds her in the best shape of her life.(Interview)

Byline: Jonathan Van Meter

It is a Saturday night in late July, and I am sitting at the bar at the Adlon Hotel in Berlin, reading the paper and drinking a glass of wine. Charlize Theron suddenly appears next to me, and I almost don't recognize her: Her hair is dyed jet-black and is cut into a short bob, but with two tendrils, sort of like grown-out spit curls, hanging down almost to her shoulders. She is wearing all black-

velvet YSL pants, long-sleeved T-shirt, tight little cardigan-and because her arms and legs are so long and slender, she looks like a spider. Theron, who will be in Berlin for the next four months shooting her latest film, Aeon Flux, has not yet found a suitable apartment, partly because she takes her four dogs with her everywhere. "I hate living in hotels," she says. She seems delighted that I'm at the bar and not, as planned, in the restaurant, so she pulls up a stool and orders a gin and tonic.

Because she has done nothing but work and sleep since she arrived a few days ago, Theron is thrilled for a little social time, even if it is, as she says, "with a complete stranger." When I ask her what she wants to do, she says, "I'm all yours. Do with me what you will." And so, for now, we sit at the bar and enjoy our drinks. I mention that I gave up trying to read past profiles of her because, frankly, they were all so repetitive, and she says, "Do you feel a little jealous? Is that what it is? I always wonder what that's like for you writers."

Sort of, I say. But it's retroactive jealousy. It's a bit like dating someone and then finding out so many others came before you.

She laughs. "So this is your chance to write something fresh! I've never been on a blind date, but I always think interviews are like blind dates. You have to sit down with someone you don't know and be pretty open. And it's like, We can have a laugh, just sitting here at the bar, which is totally great, but then it's like"-she claps her hands-"OK! Let's not forget we've got work to do!"

Needless to say, Charlize Theron is excellent company. She has been described many times as a throwback, an old-fashioned, good-time Hollywood gal, like Carole Lombard. She has a big, explosive laugh and seems completely un-self-conscious about it. She is also very funny, in that quick-with-a-pointy-little-wisecrack kind of way. (One wonders why she hasn't done much-any?-comedy.) She is also routinely characterized as a woman with a lust for life, someone who unabashedly enjoys all the things we're not supposed to do. And so I'm not at all surprised that when we head outside to our table, she orders steak and lobster and drinks two tall glasses of German beer.