Stars love to boast about they have chemistry on the set of their blockbuster films, but there are those times when people just don’t get along. Such was the case for Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron while the pair were filming Mad Max: Fury Road, and according to the actress, things were downright volatile. Reports of the contention ran rampant and the tension was recently documented in Kyle Buchanan’s book, Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road.
“I don’t want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot,” said Theron. “Now, I have a very clear perspective on what went down. I don’t think I had that clarity when we were making the movie. I was in survival mode; I was really scared sh*tless.”
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In a chat with several members of the cast and crew for Vanity Fair, camera operator Mark Goellnicht recalled a time during filming when Hardy was three hours late after being asked specifically to be on time. Theron had been punctual and sat in the War Rig in full costume and makeup for the entire time, not even moving to go to the restroom. When she saw Hardy appear, the actress unleashed her anger and it became so tense that she reportedly asked for someone to step in.
Eleven o’clock. She’s now in the War Rig, sitting there with her makeup on and a full costume for three hours. Tom turns up, and he walks casually across the desert. She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, “Fine the fucking cunt a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew,” and “How disrespectful you are!” 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 up and went, “What did you say to me?”
He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point, because then she said, “I want someone as protection.” She then had a producer that was assigned to be with her all the time.
Theron also stated that she felt as if she was walking on ice for weeks and director George Miller seemed to forgive Hardy without discipline. Mad Max: Fury Road would go on to win several awards including six Oscars. Hardy has yet to publicly respond to the tales from the cast and crew members.
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