New book on Mad Max: Fury Road details the "clash" between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ was a critical and commercial triumph-but, in an excerpt from @KyleBuchanan’s new book, cast and crew recall the feud that nearly derailed it. https://t.co/P8xJwucbCi
- VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 22, 2022
• It's well known that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along on the set of 2015s Mad Max: Fury Road but a new book provides new details on the root cause of their rift.
• The excerpt from Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan, features quotes on the feud from crew members, director George Miller and from Theron and Hardy themselves.
• Kelly Marcel (screenwriter of the two Venom films and as the oral history notes, a close friend of Hardy) says that Hardy and Theron just have different approaches to acting. Hardy is physical and all over the place while Theron is cerebral and consistent. She says these different styles are why the film works.
• First AD on the project, P.J. Voeten says that the animosity was there from preproduction onward and that at some stage "the Wives didn't like Tom, and one day, they didn't even disguise it: They were just yelling at each other in front of us." J. Houston Yang who was an editor on the project said that it was clear in the dailies that Theron and Hardy "hated each other" who didn't want to touch or even face each other if the camera wasn't rolling.
• Nicholas Hoult (who played "Nux") said that it felt like being in a car with arguing parents, a comparison which Theron agrees with. Theron goes on to say that she and Hardy should not have done that and should "have been better."
• Theron says the shoot was very tough and that she now has a clearer perspective on it all, but back then she was "in survival mode" and was scared shitless.
• Second AD, Samantha McGrady says that Theron was the easiest person to deal with on set because she was always ready when the production needed her to be. Matt Taylor, a stunt driver on the film, says that by comparison Hardy is a "larrikin" who was late and "very Method." A production runner on the film basically says that Hardy was more likely to stay in his trailer and would keep crew waiting for hours.
• It all came to a head one day when they were filming a scene in the War Rig. The call time was eight in the morning and Theron was there on time. By this point Theron and the entire cast and crew knew that Hardy would be late, even though a special request had been made for him to be on time. Camera operator Mark Goellnicht is quoted as saying, "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."
• An hour passed and Theron stayed inside the War Rig even after crew members told her she could get up and walk around, but she refused. She didn't get out to stretch her legs or go to the bathroom, and instead stayed inside the War Rig in full costume and makeup for three hours. Stunt double Natascha Hopkins notes that at the time they were filming the movie, Theron had recently adopted a child and was a new mom who wanted to finish her shots and get home to her child.
• Hardy finally showed up to set sometime around eleven in the morning. Once she saw him Theron jumped out of the War Rig and started swearing at him. Goellnicht says Theron yelled, "Fine the fucking cunt a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he's held up this crew!" and says his behavior was disrespectful. Goellnicht says that Theron was right, but that Hardy charged up to her and confronted her. He says Hardy was very aggressive and Theron felt threatened. Goellnicht notes that the confrontation was a turning point in filming and that Theron said she wanted a producer assigned to be with her at all times as a form of protection against Hardy.
• Kelly Marcel (again, someone who is friends with Hardy and still currently works with him) tries to wave it off and says "family was made (on set), and family loves and hates each other."
• Theron says that the entire situation had gotten out of hand and that she felt that a female producer could "equalize" some of it and that she didn't feel safe on set. She says that George Miller was open to it and Warner Brothers sent veteran producer Denise Di Novi (Edward Scissorhands, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Focus, and both the 1994 and 2019 versions of Little Women) to mediate the conflict between Theron and Hardy.
• There was still trouble though because Doug Mitchell who produced Fury Road would not let Di Novi on set. Marcel said, "[Doug] was never going to allow anybody to interrupt this world, not matter how fraught the world was." As a result of this, Theron says that she felt alone on set, but that Di Novi was in the production office and frequently checked in on her off set.
• Theron also says, "Looking back on where we are in the world now, given what happened between me and Tom, it would have been smart for us to bring a female producer in. You understand the needs of a director who wants to protect his set, but when push comes to shove and things get out of hand, you have to be able to think about that in a bigger sense. That’s where we could have done better, if George trusted that nobody was going to come and fuck with his vision but was just going to come and help mediate situations. I think he didn’t want any interference, and there were several weeks on that movie where I wouldn’t know what was going to come my way, and that’s not necessarily a nice thing to feel when you’re on your job. It was a little bit like walking on thin ice."
• Director George Miller expresses some regret and disappointment, and says that if he had to do the film again, he would have been more "mindful"
• Hardy is quoted as well and says that he was in over his head on the film. "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."
• Some crew members not that after they shot the scene with Max and Furiosa on the bike marked a small change in the relationship between Hardy and Theron. Goellnicht says that the two were talking and were civil between takes and by the end of shooting, Hardy was a different person.
• Other crew members say their relationship in real life mirrored the arc of their characters in the film, and that the tension "underscored the love that existed between the two of them within the movie."
• Chris O'Hara, the one set second AD had the last word on the matter and said, "People have written things about Tom and Charlize’s relationship. It was just two people trying to do the best job they could."
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