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George Miller, the director of Mad Max: Fury Road, gives the scoop on what happened with Charlie Theron and Tom Hardy while filming.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the director gets honest about the notorious feud between the two actors. This is all in light of the upcoming release of Furiosa, which is getting its premiere at Cannes and later in theaters this month.
It boiled down to a couple of strong personalities being placed together, and sometimes that can go awry. Plus, some unprofessionalism on Hardy's part seemed to piss off Theron.
Miller said, “Tom has damage to him but also a brilliance that comes with it, and whatever was going on with him at the time, he had to be coaxed out of his trailer.”
“Whereas Charlize was incredibly disciplined — a dancer by training, which told in the precision of her performance — and always the first one on set,” he added.
“I'm an optimist, so I saw their behavior as mirroring their characters, where they had to learn to cooperate in order to ensure mutual survival,” the director continued. “There's no excuse for it, and I think there's a tendency in this business to use great performances as an excuse for other disruption that could be avoided.”
Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron feuded on the "Mad Max: Fury Road" set because "they were just two very different performers," says director George Miller.
“Tom has a damage to him but also a brilliance that comes with it, and whatever was going on with him at the time, he had to… pic.twitter.com/BsyDoLZ2v4
— Variety (@Variety) May 13, 2024
More about the Mad Max feud
Variety reported in 2022 on the Mad Max: Fury Road book Blood, Sweat & Chrome, which detailed some of the actors' conflicts.
Theron said via Vanity Fair, “It was like two parents in the front of the car. We were either fighting or we were icing each other — I don't know which one is worse — and they had to deal with it in the back. It was horrible! We should not have done that; we should have been better. I can own up to that.”
Camera operator Mark Goellnicht said, “I remember vividly the day. The call on set was eight o'clock. Charlize got there right at eight o'clock, sat in the War Rig, knowing that Tom's never going to be there at eight even though they made a special request for him to be there on time. He was notorious for never being on time in the morning. If the call time was in the morning, forget it — he didn't show up.”
“She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, ‘Fine the f—ing c–t a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he's held up this crew,' and ‘How disrespectful you are!'” Goellnicht added. “She was right. Full rant. She screams it out. It's so loud, it's so windy — he might've heard some of it, but he charged up to her and went, ‘What did you say to me?'”
First assistant camera, Ricky Schamburg, stated, “Whether that was some kind of power play or not, I don't know, but it felt deliberately provocative. If you ask me, he kind of knew that it was really pissing Charlize off, because she's professional and she turns up really early.”
Theron and Hardy stayed on set despite the simmering conflicts. Mad Max: Fury Road went on to become a major success, winning six Oscars. Did the conflict between the two actors help them come across better on screen and help the film? Hard to tell. But whatever it was, all the elements came together and made it great.
