Theron admitted that she knew from the beginning that the movie was going to be a flop and that she needed something different to put herself out there in a new way. She expressed that sometimes as women, they only get one shot, and this was hers.
Theron appeared on Arrested Development's third season in 2005-2006 as Michael Bluth's love interest, Rita Leeds. She recalled being terrified to walk onto the set of such a brilliant show, but she loved it and felt that it was a necessary step to further her career. She continued to explain that she fought to save Aeon Flux during its production, but she did not have the experience or answers to fix it.
The film was highly anticipated, thanks to Theron's recent Oscar win and Karyn Kusama's previous success as the director of Girlfight. However, it ultimately only grossed $52 million worldwide on a budget of $62 million and received a mere 9 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. In a 2016 interview with BuzzFeed, Kusama called the experience "eviscerating" and expressed that there was a sense that everyone was in the dark about what it meant to be a woman behind a high-profile assignment.
Despite the film's failure, both Theron and Kusama went on to find success. Theron received two more Oscar nominations and appeared in popular titles like Mad Max: Fury Road and The Old Guard, as well as later entries in the Fast and Furious franchise. Kusama went on to direct three consecutive critical hits, including Jennifer's Body, The Invitation, and Destroyer, before producing the hit series Yellowjackets.
