FILM · 2017 · SWEDEN
Atomic Blonde
32 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
Charlize Theron had eight personal trainers to help her master the intense physical performance, and she also trained with Keanu Reeves, who was preparing for John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017).
- #002
Charlize Theron broke two of her teeth during filming.
- #003
In an interview with "IMDb Originals," James McAvoy said he learned that after World War II, MI6 liked to recruit alcoholics, drug addicts and gay men because they had usable experience in keeping a big secret, which could be turned into espionage. "I thought, 'That's quite interesting,' so I decided to go with that hardcore and make [David Percival] as much of an alcoholic and a drug addict as possible. I wanted to make him a gay man. But they wouldn't let me because Charlize is gay, or at least bisexual, I don't know, or maybe she's just doing it for a job, I'm not sure."
- #004
Charlize Theron spent five years developing this project.
- #005
The key fight scene, staged in a real Berlin building, runs almost 10 minutes and appears to be one continuous take, but the sequence is actually made up of nearly 40 separate shots stitched together seamlessly. Although it was filmed chronologically from start to finish, nearly half of the additions needed some degree of CGI assistance. Swish-pans provided the simplest solutions for clean cuts, and door frames provided vertical seams to bridge certain sections properly.
- #006
The major fight on the marble staircase presented one of the most difficult scenes to film. Charlize Theron actually hit a (padded) wall, but her fall down the stairs (also padded to look like marble) was performed by Canadian stuntwoman Monique Ganderton.
- #007
Charlize Theron said the success of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) guided the development of Atomic Blonde (2017).
- #008
The scene in which Charlize Theron has sex with Sofia Boutella took 45 minutes to shoot. Theron found the scene easy and attributed that fact to both of them being dancers.
- #009
The film is adapted from Antony Johnston and Sam Hart's 2012 graphic novel 'The Coldest City.' The film centers on a spy who must find a list of double agents smuggled to the West.
- #010
David Bowie was initially hoped to play a role in the film, but Bowie turned down the offer shortly before his death.
- #011
In a 2018 Playboy interview, Sofia Boutella was asked whether it bothered her that the media made so much of her sex scenes with Charlize Theron. She said: "It wasn't annoying, but why is it so important to see people having sex? You see people killing each other on screen all the time. It's not something to make a big deal of; they're just movies. People give Gaspar Noé (director of Climax (2018), in which Boutella co-starred) crap for having so much sex in his films. Why do you spend so much energy on this? What's wrong with sex?"
- #012
It is David Leitch's first solo directing effort after co-directing John Wick (2014) with Chad Stahelski.
- #013
Early in the film, in the scene where Charlize Theron fights two escorts in a car, the tunnel sequence in Berlin features the same tunnel as the one in Captain America: Civil War (2016) in which Black Panther chases Bucky Barnes. It is also the same tunnel as the one in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), in which Katniss Everdeen and her team try to reach President Snow.
- #014
Broughton's character is seen throughout the film drinking Stoli over ice, a Russian vodka. This reinforces the idea that he is a Russian double agent until the final reveal.
- #015
In both the graphic novel and the screenplay, the main focus is always on the character Lorraine Broughton, played by Charlize Theron, while some minor characters in the film, including Sofia Boutella's Delphine Lasalle, received far more attention than originally planned. Delphine was originally a male character. In the graphic novel, Lorraine is shown seducing her (both characters clothed), but you don't see any sex. Everything changed for the film. The film's director, David Leitch, says: "The relationship was reversed before I came on. It was a great idea. You should always find ways to contemporize these stories, reach a bigger audience and be provocative in your storytelling."
- #016
The film shown at the cinema on Alexanderplatz is Stalker (1979), a Soviet-made film about a professional guide who takes his clients on a secret journey into a surreal region called "the Zone," leading to a mysterious room where one's deepest desire comes true. Given the rather limited entertainment options behind the Iron Curtain, it is plausible that a decade-old film would be showing in East Berlin. It is somewhat less likely that there would be a large, colorful billboard outside the cinema advertising the film.
- #017
Lorraine's line that the bags were sent ahead and therefore weren't checked exists partly as an explanation for the roughly two dozen costume changes the character makes over the course of the film.
- #018
The Wilhelm scream is used when Lorraine jumps out of the window during the apartment fight.
- #019
When the credits begin, the word "password" appears and "The Coldest City" is entered. The film had previously been titled The Coldest City, after the graphic novel.
- #020
The film grossed 100 million dollars at the box office.
- #021
The man seen running in the street during the opening is the film's stunt coordinator, Sam Hargrave, playing James Gascoine, who is soon to die. He performs various stunts throughout the film, including the car rollover.
- #022
In the scene where Lorraine finds the photo of herself with Gascoine in a drawer, you can see a bottle of Dior foundation, a brand for which Charlize Theron is an ambassador.
- #023
The entire film was shot in various locations across Europe.
- #024
The studio wanted them to cut their David Hasselhoff joke, but they refused.
- #025
The "one-take" stairwell fight scene contains numerous hidden (or digital) edits, including the motion blur as Lorraine throws a man to the ground and a handful of whip pans that follow.
- #026
In both this film and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Toby Jones plays a senior British intelligence officer during the Cold War and spends most of his screen time sitting at a table in a soundproofed briefing room.
- #027
He is the voice of the pilot of the private jet that goes to Langley, Virginia at the end.
- #028
At the end of the car fight scene, when James McAvoy (David Percival) takes Charlize Theron's red high-heeled shoe, you can briefly see the Christian Dior label inside it. Charlize has been the face of Christian Dior's J'adore perfume since 2004.
- #029
Although it is based on a graphic novel, it shares notable similarities with Ed Brubaker's Image Comics series Velvet. Both are Cold War spy thrillers centered on veteran female agents who are wronged by their employers. In both works, the protagonist is embedded in an international coalition of American and British intelligence, though Velvet never names MI6 or the CIA.
- #030
Eddie Marsan also appeared in David Leitch's Deadpool 2 (2018), where he once again has a scene in which he is underwater, as he does here. People told Leitch to cut the scene, thinking Marsan was drowning, but Leitch was sure the actor was only acting. He was right: Marsan did not drown.
- #031
This is the second time Sofia Boutella has appeared in a spy film. She also appeared in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014).
- #032
(At the 32nd minute) Lorraine's fight with two police officers after jumping out of the window was originally going to be five cuts/shots, but after seeing it performed in a wide-shot rehearsal, they decided to use a single take instead.
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