Interesting Facts About Monster

Aileen Wuornos, notorious for refusing to cooperate, granted writer-director Patty Jenkins access to hundreds of letters she had sent and received so Jenkins could gain deeper insight into Aileen's life.

Charlize Theron was awarded the Academy Award for her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos on 29 February 2004, which was Wuornos's birthday.

Charlize Theron improvised the now-famous line "Fuck you, Leslie!"

The biker bar scenes were filmed at The Last Resort, the very bar Aileen Wuornos frequented in real life and the place where she was arrested. The owner, who capitalised on Wuornos' notoriety by hanging a sign outside advertising "cool beer and killer women", appears in a cameo as the barman who threatens to cut her off for exceeding her tab.

Patty Jenkins said she held screen tests for Kate Winslet, Heather Graham, Brittany Murphy and Kate Beckinsale. But having seen Charlize Theron in a darker turn in The Devil's Advocate (1997), Jenkins realised she wanted Theron. Jenkins became convinced Theron was the right choice when she woke to find a scene from The Devil's Advocate on the television. She said an actress prepared to allow a close-up of a runny nose, as Theron did, would be open enough to take on the demanding role of Aileen Wuornos.

The real Aileen Wuornos actually used a storage unit similar to the one shown after she leaves Selby's house the morning following their first meeting. Although the film shows it only once (and before the killing spree), in reality she kept some of her victims' belongings there. She sold several other items to pawnbrokers, which ultimately led to her being identified by a thumbprint and her subsequent arrest.

According to Patty Jenkins, the production was filmed over 28 days. On one occasion they managed to film as many as four scenes — the equivalent of nine pages of the script — in a single day.

Selby is inspired by Tyria Moore, Aileen Wuornos' real-life partner at the time of the murders. For all practical purposes Selby is a fictional character. Moore was notoriously reclusive and disclosed few details of her private life; she asked that her name and likeness not be used in the film, and director Patty Jenkins honoured that request. The film-makers therefore had to rely heavily on imagination when shaping the character of Selby.

The word "Fuck" and its permutations are uttered 189 times.

When Lee first meets a client in the film, she produces a photograph of two young children and tells him they are her children, saying she needs money to get to them. According to Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992), the real Aileen Wuornos actually used this ploy to persuade clients to pay for sexual services, as her appearance was deteriorating rapidly due to her chaotic lifestyle, making it increasingly hard for her to earn money as a prostitute. She would show photographs of her adoptive sister's children, claiming they were her own. Wuornos was legally adopted by her grandparents as an infant after her birth mother abandoned her, which meant that her adoptive sister was, in fact, her aunt.

Steve Perry, the former lead vocalist of the band Journey, served as the musical consultant. The band's hit single "Don't Stop Believin'" is heard during the ice-rink scene.

Charlize Theron has said that after winning an Oscar for the role, interviewers became less interested in her craft and instead repeatedly became fixated on how a pretty, slim person could be 'brave' enough to put on weight and, as the industry later came to call it, "go ugly". A typical Vancouver Sun piece proclaimed, "Charlize Theron Sacrifices Great Looks for Great Part in Monster." When the first stills from Monster were released, nobody could believe Theron would downplay her 'greatest asset' to portray a homeless lesbian prostitute and a serial killer.

Patty Jenkins drafted the screenplay in seven weeks. The production was assembled over a two-month period.

Charlize Theron said in an interview that she was taken aback when Patty Jenkins got in touch to offer her the part. "Why me?" she asked the director. "This sort of thing doesn't happen to me. Usually I have to go out there, sweat blood and fight tooth and nail for these things." Jenkins' reply was, "Honestly, I just looked at you and then at everyone else, and thought to myself: 'I could kick the other actors' arses. You — I'm not so sure.'"

While out looking for work, Aileen refers to 'giving the baby up' when she was thirteen. The real-life Aileen Wuornos did, in fact, become pregnant at the age of thirteen after occasionally turning to sex work outside school hours, and was compelled to relinquish the child, a son, for adoption straight away.

At the start of the film, Lee tells Selby that she runs a "pressure-washing" business. The real Aileen Wuornos states in Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992) that she bought an expensive pressure-washing kit for her former partner. The partner left Wuornos shortly afterwards and took the costly kit with her.

In Beverly Hills, a pawnbroker sold the firearm used in the film by Charlize Theron for $4,500.

Kate Hudson was initially offered the part of Selby, but she declined the role.

Scott Wilson declined the minor role of Horton on several occasions before ultimately agreeing to take it. He felt that, to portray the part properly, he would have to venture into an emotional state he did not feel prepared to explore as an actor.

Fourteen years on from this film, Patty Jenkins brought out her second film, Wonder Woman, in 2017.

Charlize Theron's Academy Award for Best Actress was the film's sole Academy Award nomination.

Charlize Theron told Howard Stern in an interview that not everyone was impressed by her decision to gain weight and alter her appearance to resemble real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She said, "Our financier had no fucking idea what movie we were making. He thought he was making a hot Charlize Theron/Christina Ricci/lesbian love, sex movie." As both a producer and the film's lead, Theron recalled receiving a late-night call from the financier after he had watched some of the dailies. "He fucking ripped me a new one," she said, adding that he told her she looked terrible and didn't smile enough for the camera. "He just freaked out." His comments made her question whether the film was working, so she rang director Patty Jenkins. Jenkins promptly told her that she was wrong and forbade her from ever speaking to the man again. Theron never spoke to him afterwards, although he reappears in the DVD behind-the-scenes featurette, where Theron says, "He takes credit for fucking everything."

Charlize Theron put on between 20 and 30 pounds and even shaved off her eyebrows to portray Aileen Wuornos. Christina Ricci likewise added around 20 pounds for the part, and both actresses adopted decidedly unglamorous clothes.

Standing at 5'10, Charlize Theron is six inches taller than Aileen Wuornos, who was 5'4.

Reese Witherspoon lobbied to secure the leading role.

The skating rink is Semoran Skateway in Casselberry, Florida. Fun World, where Selby and Aileen Wuornos take a spin on the big wheel, is situated on International Drive in Orlando, Florida.

Speaking with Aileen, Thomas alludes to having fought in Vietnam. "What you're feeling right now is guilt about something you had absolutely no control over. Do you realise how many of us came back from the war and nearly took our own lives because we felt exactly the same?"

The client's brutal attack on Aileen was taken from one of the many accounts she offered about how, she claimed, her first murder occurred. It is thought there were multiple versions of the story, and some may have been fabricated to bolster the serial killer's case in court. Given her lifestyle and reputation as a pathological liar, none of her accounts can be definitively corroborated or disproved.

Scott Wilson (Horton / Last "John") and Pruitt Taylor Vince (Gene / Stuttering "John") appeared together in series two of AMC's hit television series The Walking Dead. Scott Wilson portrayed Hershel Greene, and Pruitt Taylor Vince portrayed Ottis.

The name 'Aileen Wuornos' is never spoken in the film; she is referred to solely as 'Lee'.

In the film, Aileen is shown using a very battered .22LR calibre Smith & Wesson Model 617 revolver. In reality, the revolver actually used by Aileen Wournos was a High-Standard Double Nine, a .22, double-action revolver.

Patty Jenkins' first feature-length film, following two short films she had made. She did not direct another feature for 14 years, until she finally made Wonder Woman in 2017. In the interim she was pitching projects — including a proposal for the superhero film Thor: The Dark World (2013) — but no studios showed interest.

It was Patty Jenkins' debut film and, as of 2021, the only film of hers classified as 18.

The film's two undercover bounty hunters are modelled on two undercover officers who assisted in apprehending Wuornos. They called themselves 'Bucket' and 'Drums'.

One reason the producers cast Christina Ricci as a smaller, more timid character was to establish a visual and dramatic contrast with Theron. In reality, Tyria Moore was a bigger, fair‑haired and more confrontational woman than Ricci's portrayal conveys.

Marco St. John appears in this film twelve years on from an uncredited yet memorable turn in Thelma & Louise — a picture that echoes many of the themes and narrative devices found in Monster.