through the video there.

- Through the scent of my armpits,

the pure panic that you're smelling underneath the sweater.

[pensive instrumental music]

- [Interviewer] Charlize, you are about to take

"Vanity Fair's" Proust questionnaire.

You will be asked 35 questions in rapid succession

in order to reveal your true nature.

Once a question has been read out,

you'll have five seconds to answer before we move on.

Upon completion of all 35 questions,

you will have a chance to reflect

and even correct your answers.

- Okay.

Now like I've got sweaty palms now, all of a sudden.

[pensive instrumental music]

- [Interviewer] What is your idea of perfect happiness?

- Summer.

- [Interviewer] What is your greatest fear?

- It's so great I don't wanna say it out loud.

- [Interviewer] What is the trait

you most deplore in yourself?

- Raising my voice.

- [Interviewer] What is the trait

you most deplore in others?

- Dishonesty.

- [Interviewer] Which living person do you most admire?

- Um, my mom.

- [Interviewer] What is your greatest extravagance?

- Traveling.

- [Interviewer] What's your current state of mind?

- Anxious.

- [Interviewer] What do you consider

to be the most overrated virtue?

- I pass.

- [Interviewer] On what occasion do you lie?

- When I don't want to hurt somebody's feelings.

- [Interviewer] What do you most dislike

about your appearance?

- I have big shoulders.

- [Interviewer] Which living person do you most despise?

- Despise. Wow, that's such strong wording.

Okay, George Zimmerman.

- [Interviewer] What is the quality you most like in a man?

- Confidence.

- [Interviewer] What is the quality most like in a woman?

- Humor.

- [Interviewer] Which word or phrases do you most overuse?

- You know.

- [Interviewer] Who or what is the greatest love

of your life?

- My kids.

- [Interviewer] When and where were you happiest?

- Last summer on vacation with my tribe.

- [Interviewer] Which talent would you most like to have?

- Oh, hands down to be able to sing like Bono.

- [Interviewer] If you could change one thing about yourself

what would it be?

- Smaller shoulders.

- [Interviewer] What do you consider

your greatest achievement?

- Again, getting to be a mom to two beautiful girls.

- [Interviewer] If you were to die and come back as a person

or a thing, what would it be?

- One of my dogs. [laughs]

They have it so good.

- [Interviewer] Where would you most like to live?

- Here.

- [Interviewer] What is your most treasured possession?

- Material? The photographs that I've taken my whole life.

- [Interviewer] What do you regard

as the lowest depth of misery?

- Not feeling like yourself, not trusting yourself,

feeling wobbly.

- [Interviewer] What is your favorite occupation?

- Creating in front of a fourth wall.

- [Interviewer] What is your most marked characteristic?

- God, I don't know.

Being stupid sometimes, silly.

- [Interviewer] What do you most value in your friends?

- Just them being forgiving.

- [Interviewer] Who are your favorite writers?

- One of my favorites, I don't,

there's something nostalgic about her writing for me

is Alexandra Fuller.

"Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight"

is one of my favorite, favorite books.

- [Interviewer] Who is your hero of fiction?

- I honestly don't think I have one.

- [Interviewer] Which historical figure

do you most identify with?

- Jane Goodall.

- [Interviewer] Who are your heroes in real life?

- My mom, my daughters.

- What are your favorite names?

- Jackson and August. [laughs]

- [Interviewer] What is it that you most dislike?

- Fennel.

- [Interviewer] What is your greatest regret?

- Usually not eating enough of that dessert.

- [Interviewer] How would you like to die?

- So dark.

My sleep, I think.

I haven't tried it.

- [Interviewer] What is your motto?

- Oh shit, yeah no.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," hands down.

- [Interviewer] And that completes the Proust questionnaire.

- Oh, thank God.

Okay, all right. [interviewer laughs]

- [Interviewer] Were there questions that you found

really difficult to answer there?

- Yeah, obviously. Yeah.

It's weird.

Like I just, some of them I've just never thought of like.

I mean the virtue one, I don't know.

I pass.

And then the historical figure.

Jane Goodall.

It feels so wrong because I mean, I just admire her.

So maybe I should have used her as my person that I admire,

my living person that I admire.

I got to camp with her in the Congo with her chimps,

and we just like popped up tents and we made a fire

and then we drank whiskey all night

and she just told me stories till like three in the morning.

And it was really, really special.

- [Interviewer] Given the opportunity,

would you wanna play her in a biopic?

- No, God, no.

I'm sure there's tons of better people who could do that,

but she's a magical human.

She's one of those people that you meet

and you just go wow.

- Why is- - Summer.

- [Interviewer] Your perfect idea of happiness?

I think because I'm the happiest when I'm in a warm climate.

Like I just think in general I might have SADS disease,

but I definitely am affected by,

like we had a beautiful day here this morning

and now it's gray

and I can feel like my mood is like changing.

I think my overall machine works just on a happier note

when I'm in a warm climate and there's sunshine.

- [Interviewer] You didn't like the wording of this question

where I asked which living person do you most despise.

- Wow, that's such strong wording.

- [Interviewer] You said.

- George Zimmerman.

I do not like that guy

and I don't like how he's conducted himself

after what happened to Trayvon Martin.

And I just find, I find him, I do,

I find everything about him despicable.

That whole event's so tragic

and for him to kind of just have no regard or respect

or just remorse, it's very, very hard for me.

Very hard for me.

I struggle with him a lot.

- [Interviewer] For the question,

"Who is your hero fiction,"

you didn't have an answer.

- I honestly don't think I have one.

I didn't.

Han Solo.

Can I go back and answer that? [laughs]

I don't know.

Yeah, let's go with him.

- [Interviewer] When I asked how would you like to die,

you said. - My sleep, I think.

- [Interviewer] Have you not contemplated

the best way to die?

- I don't think I've contemplated it in those terms,

like the best way to die.

I mean, I think in general the best way

would probably just be not knowing

and fast, like quick, like just getting it out of the way.

Has anybody said slow and torturous?

Yes, I figured, I figured.

I mean I don't wanna assume, but I figured, yeah.

- [Interviewer] Which of your dogs would you come back as?

- Any single one of them because, my God,

do they have a good life.

And there are many days that I walk through my house going

like I wish I was you right now, just lying on that bed.

You know, they get delicious meals.

I spoil them rotten.

They sleep on my white sheets.

Yes, I have many times looked at them and thought

what a good life.

This would be a good, good way to go through life.

I could do this.

- [Interviewer] You said to when and where

you were happiest.

- Last summer on vacation with my tribe.

- [Interviewer] Where were you on vacation

and what made it so special?

- We traveled through a bit of Croatia,

which was just magical.

I'm using the word magical a lot.

I'm sounding like a real royal [beep] hole.

Everything is so magical.

But it was, it was with a couple of families

and tons of kids and people who I just really love

and kind of consider my adopted family.

And yeah, you just can't take stuff like that for granted

to be able to do something like that

and to share that with other people who you love.

And oh yeah, I've been thinking a lot

about that vacation during quarantine.

- [Interviewer] When I asked what is your greatest fear,

you said.

- It's so great I don't wanna say it out loud.

- [Interviewer] Can you elaborate?

- It has to do with, yeah, my children, for sure.

That's all I will say 'cause it's just too dark of a thought

to even think about.

But that would be my greatest fear, yes.

- [Interviewer] For most overrated virtue you passed.

- Yeah.

Well, I don't really know how to answer that.

What would your answer be?

- [Interviewer] I would probably crib mine

from Stephen Colbert and say chastity.

- [laughs] Oh, that's amazing.

Yes. Oh yes.

As a woman, I would agree.

Yes, no, for sure.

Oh my God, did he say that?

I love him.

- [Interviewer] Do you think that these questions

from Proust have revealed something about your inner self?

- That maybe the phrase I overuse,

this magic word or phrase is magical?

Like maybe I didn't know that.

So that was eye opening.

Thank you.

It takes a French man to sometimes point out

things you don't know about yourself.

Is he French?

He is French.

He sounds French.

Yes, okay. - Yeah.

Marcel Proust.

- Yeah, that's [beep] French all the way.