Why Charlize Theron welcomed the 'totally insane' thrills of 'Apex'

Brian Truitt, USA TODAYFri, April 24, 2026 at 1:15 PM UTC

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There were no easy days for Charlize Theron making the Netflix survival thriller “Apex.” Ask her what was the hairiest scene she pulled off and she just laughs.

“This wasn't one of those [films] normally like, ‘So I got to do this one thing that was crazy,’” the Oscar winner recalls. “Every day I did something that was totally insane in the best way possible.”

Theron stars in Baltasar Kormákur’s “Apex” (streaming now on Netflix) as Sasha, a grieving rock climber who’s traveled to Australia to find peace amid Mother Nature after the loss of a loved one. Instead of solace, she finds a serial killer: Charismatic local Ben (Taron Egerton) seems like a helpful sort, but turns out to be a sinister dude who hunts her through the wilds of a national park.

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Charlize Theron had to learn rock climbing skills for her Netflix survival thriller "Apex."

Sasha gets put through the physical wringer, as did Theron. On just the fourth day of filming, she free-jumped 30 feet off a cliff into 6 feet of water at Ginninderra Falls near Canberra.

“It was really high and really scary, and I did that jump I think eight times,” Theron, 50, remembers. “That was truly one of those moments where you jump off and go, ‘I cannot believe I just did that.’”

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The climactic scene also involved a most harrowing feat. Sasha needs to get to safety by scaling a 52-foot-high rock wall in Glenbrook Gorge near Sydney. Her final climb involved being lowered down and then having to go back up.

“I only had one secure safety line that was holding me and they couldn't build anything above me to rig me up, so that's all I had,” Theron says. “I climbed that last bit completely by myself without anybody pulling me up. That was the most terrifying thing but also the most awesome thing that I did for the movie. I love that moment so much because it really isn't acting. It's like the realest of my physical performances that I've ever seen.”

And when Sasha takes a minute at the top to rest, with relief washing over her face in a close-up, that’s “exactly” how Theron felt, she adds.

“Apex” came at just the right time in her life: Theron acknowledges she was “struggling a little” and “really kind of feeling out of control.”

Immersing herself in extreme physical realities over four months in Australia, “I came out of this movie feeling just lighter, realizing that there's only so much you can really control in life – or like for nature, prepare the best you can – and then the rest is going to just happen,” Theron says.

“It was just like a moment in my life where I needed something like this to kind of wake me up again and realize like, ‘Relax, it's going to be OK. Don't worry so much.’ I feel in many ways this has been my favorite movie that I've ever shot.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Apex' star Charlize Theron loved her 'totally insane' scenes

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