Charlize Theron gets political in her latest movie

Charlize Theron gets political in her new film 'Battle in Seattle', which is directed by her boyfriend Stuart Townsend.

She hopes the movie inspires people to consider the trade policies proposed by each candidate in the upcoming Presidential election. "Trade is something that affects every living creature and every person on the face of this earth," says Theron. "We might have to mend some laws. I think it's something that we need to look at. Obviously because so many people got together in 99 and closed those meetings down. I'm mean that right there tells you there is something wrong within the WTO."

'Battle in Seattle' takes place over five days in 1999 when tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organisation.. Ray Liotta plays the mayor of Seattle, who tries desperately to calm the chaos."Obviously it deals with trade and what goes on, whether paper or fish in the sea or medicines, things like that." says Liotta. "There's people who have different opinions than the WTO has and they organiZed through the internet to protest the WTO - the World Trade Organization. And it spun out of control."

Actress Michelle Rodriguez appears as a fiercely dedicated activist, who teams with other non-violent protesters to stop the WTO conference. She says the film's political undertones drew her to the role."People for the most part, it's sad, but people need to make noise in order for the ordinary individuals who don't really like to keep themselves well-informed about political events or social issues or human rights or civil rights or ecology or science," says Rodriguez. "People who don't maintain a constant level of education on these subjects, for the most part are sheep. So I think that it's important for protests to occur and that's what attracted me to the whole project in the first plac and I think that what this film is going to do and what I hope people take from it, is that hunger to know more."

Jay is the character portrayed by Martin Henderson, he leads a group of peaceful protesters to rally, block intersections and ultimately shut down the WTO convention. He claims the story is inspirational: "The movie pretty much shows you in a really dramatic and entertaining way if you stand up and be counted, you can make a difference."

Theron adds, "It's like that moment in 'Rocky,' you know when he runs up the stairs? And he has his hands up and the music and everyone's like "Yeah!" It's like that moment. I think people will walk out with that because it really is - I mean that last moment in the film where you realise what they actually accomplish."

'Battle in Seattle' is showing in selected US cinemas now and it's already been released in Canada and France. Further planned opening dates include October 3rd in Spain and October 9th in Portugal.