Tully: Why Charlize Theron is So Good

The most undeniable thing about Tully, the new film from director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody (Young Adult), is the power of the central performance by Charlize Theron. As Marlo, a mother of three feeling the strain of raising three young children, Theron is fearless, plumbing the depths of Marlo’s exhaustion and her growing anxiety that she is losing her own self-identity to her role as a mother.

“It’s really amazing to run into somebody and just be like, ‘Oh, this is a real unicorn,’” says Ron Livingston, who plays Theron’s husband in the film, about his co-star. “This is a person who is strong and powerful and beautiful and artistic and funny and sharing…she’s a love, she’s just a real love, and so good.”

Mark Duplass, who plays Marlo’s brother Craig in the film, is equally enthusiastic about the Oscar-winning actress: “You ever meet people sometimes and you’re like, ‘I don’t know how you got to this elevated place in your life and career, ‘cause you kind of don’t have what it takes to have gotten there?” he asks. “Charlize is the opposite of that.”

Watch Livingston and Duplass in the interview below. Tully is out in theaters now.