It has already been common knowledge to fans and everyone in Hollywood that production on George Miller’s critically-acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road was probably one of the most elaborate and difficult sets ever as conflicts between the stars and Miller were evident throughout the filming. Now, five years after its theatrical release, Oscar winner Charlize Theron and Oscar nominee Tom Hardy have finally opened up about their infamous clash at the Mad Max: Fury Road set.
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Speaking with The New York Times, Theron and Hardy got candid with their answers by admitting that they both had their own faults on why they didn’t got along during filming which was mainly attributed to their frustrations of trying to understand Miller’s vision for the film.
“The biggest thing that was driving that entire production was fear,” Theron said. “I was incredibly scared, because I’d never done anything like it. I think the hardest thing between me and George is that he had the movie in his head and I was so desperate to understand it.”
Hardy added, “Because of how much detail we were having to process and how little control one had in each new situation, and how fast the takes were — tiny snippets of story moments were needed to make the final cut work — we moved fast, and it was at times overwhelming. One had to trust that the bigger picture was being held together.”
Other cast members such as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Zoe Kravitz have also opened up about the behind-the-scenes conflicts, revealing that they couldn’t blame Theron or Hardy for it because there was a lot of pressure on their shoulders to deliver what George Miller wants from them.
“There was a lot of tension, and a lot of different personalities and clashes at times,” Huntington-Whiteley recalled. “It was definitely interesting to sit in a truck for four months with Tom and Charlize, who have completely different approaches to their craft.”
“Tom really had moments of frustration, of anger. Charlize did, too,” Kravitz added. “But I feel like he’s the one who really took it out on George the most, and that was a bummer to see. But you know, in some ways, you also can’t blame him, because a lot was being asked of these actors and there were a lot of unanswered questions.”
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Both Theron and Hardy also agreed that they should’ve been more understanding of one another, especially at a very difficult filming location when shooting had gone on for months and was behind schedule. “In retrospect, I didn’t have enough empathy to really, truly understand what he must have felt like to step into Mel Gibson’s shoes,” Theron explained. “That is frightening! And I think because of my own fear, we were putting up walls to protect ourselves instead of saying to each other, “This is scary for you, and it’s scary for me, too. Let’s be nice to each other.” In a weird way, we were functioning like our characters: Everything was about survival.
Hardy continued, “I would agree. I think 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. I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
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Mad Max: Fury Road, which opened in May of 2015, is the story of Max Rockatansky, played by Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises). Within this world of fire and blood exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order. There’s Max (Hardy), a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos and Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland. A Mad Max prequel might show us her life in The Green Place before she started working for Immortan Joe.
Mad Max: Fury Road also starred Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, X-Men: Days of Future Past), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max, Sleeping Beauty), Nathan Jones (Conan the Barbarian, Troy), Zoe Kravitz (Divergent, X-Men: First Class), Riley Keough (The Runaways, Magic Mike) and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Transformers: Age of Extinction).
