TV & Movies
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron Just Got Very Real About Their “Horrible” Feud
“We were either fighting or icing each other out.”
As a film, Mad Max: Fury Road was a huge success, amassing six Oscar wins, and grossing around $375 million worldwide upon its release in 2015. The high-octane action film is packed with drama, and it turns out things were the same behind the camera, too. There’s been much talk about the feud between leading actors Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, who played Imperator Furiosa and Max Rockatansky, respectively. Now, a book titled Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by The New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan is set to lift the lid on exactly what happened between the dualling co-stars.
In an excerpt published by Vanity Fair, various Mad Max cast and crew discussed the tensions between Theron and Hardy, including comments from the two actors themselves.
Skins actor Nicholas Hoult, who played Nux in the adventure epic, described a “tense atmosphere” on set, saying “it was kind of like you’re on your summer holidays and the adults in the front of the car are arguing.” To which Theron agreed with him, “It was like two parents in the front of the car. We were either fighting or we were icing each other [out], I don’t know which one is worse, and they had to deal with it in the back. It was horrible!” Taking responsibility for her part in the saga, the actress continued: “We [Hardy and I] should not have done that. We should have been better. I can own up to that.”
The cast and crew recall a specific explosive moment between the pair, where Hardy turned up to set three hours late, which angered Theron. Natascha Hopkins, a stunt double who worked on Mad Max, explained Theron’s frustration as she was “a new mom, and she just wanted to get to set, work, and take care of her kid.”
One of the camera operators, Mark Goellnicht, described what happened after Hardy turned up to work for the day. “[Theron] jumps out of the rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, “Fine the fucking c*** a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew.”
Hardy, who heard what was being said, is said to have become verbally aggressive with Theron. Goellnicht, amongst others, witnessed the incident and said that Theron felt “threatened” and asked to have a producer assigned to her as “protection” from then on.
Hardy also commented on the incident to Buchanan, saying: “In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways. The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced, partner in me. That’s something that can’t be faked.”
He added: “I like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
