After ‘Atomic Blonde,’ Charlize Theron keeps up the action in Chicago

Charlize Theron’s streak of high-octane roles, from the baddie of “The Fate of the Furious” to the super-spy of this week’s “Atomic Blonde,” will keep up with “Gringo,” the action comedy she shot in Chicago last year.

“I guess I’m continuing to love making films that feature plenty of action,” said the Oscar winner. “But I get to do a lot more in [‘Atomic Blonde’] than in ‘Gringo.’ ”

In “Gringo,” slated for release next spring, David Oyelowo plays a Nigerian-American businessman who works for Theron and Joel Edgerton. Oyelowo fakes his own kidnapping in Mexico in a plot to seek revenge against his bosses. Directed by Nash Edgerton, the brother of Joel, it also stars Thandie Newton, Amanda Seyfried and Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris, in her feature film debut.

“I loved working in Chicago,” said Theron. “The look of the city lent itself so perfectly to the themes of the film. We had a great experience with that project. The crews were incredible. The people in the town were amazingly gracious to us. It was such a smooth shoot for us.”

As for “Atomic Blonde,” the actress said she got hooked on producing the film — and the idea of playing the lead — after reading “just about eight pages of the graphic novel” upon which the movie is based.

“Even after reading very little of the book, there was something about the character that I immediately liked. I like that she was unapologetic and she had a dry sense of humor. There was something in the character there that spoke to me — indicating a lot of potential.”

Her character, undercover British MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton, literally kicks ass in much of the film, and Theron explained, “While we were filming, we constantly asked the question, ‘Could that really happen?’ ”

Knowing movie audiences today are very savvy about “movie magic,” the actress and her “Atomic Blonde” team kept coming up with moves for her that “people would actually believe I could do for real.

“In addition, because this is a female character, I didn’t want audiences to shoot her down, thinking this was all special effects and that she could never do that. So we put her in high-stake circumstances, and we figured out clever ways to get her out of sticky situations.”