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Things were quite “mad” on the set of “Mad Max.”
While it’s a known fact that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy had a fiery feud on the set of George Miller’s 2015 action flick “Mad Max: Fury Road,” fans had no idea how bad the fight actually was.
An excerpt from Kyle Buchanan’s new book, “Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road” was published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday and details the myriad of ways Theron, 46, was afraid of Hardy, 44, after he showed up to set three hours late.
“I don’t want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot,” Theron, who portrayed Imperator Furiosa in the critically acclaimed movie, said in an excerpt from the book.
“I was in survival mode; I was really scared s – – tless,” the Oscar-winning actress added. “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.”
The incident in question that occurred during shooting was witnessed by several crew members. Camera operator Mark Goellnicht explained in the book how the “Monster” actress was waiting in full costume, ready to film one day.
“Charlize got there right at 8 o’clock, sat in the War Rig, knowing that Tom’s never going to be there at 8 even though they made a special request for him to be there on time,” Goellnicht said. “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.”
First assistant camera Ricky Schamburg added that he believed the “Venom” actor knew he was irritating Theron with his actions. “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,” Schamburg stated.
Hardy then arrived three hours after his call time on that particular day. Once his and Theron’s eyes finally met on set, she started cursing at him.
“She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, ‘Fine the f – – king c – – t a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew,’ and ‘How disrespectful you are!’ ” Goellnicht chimed in. “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?’ ”
“He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point,” he continued.
Theron then had to get producer Denise Di Novi to stay by her side following the heated confrontation. “It got to a place where it was kind of out of hand, and there was a sense that maybe sending a woman producer down could maybe equalize some of it, because I didn’t feel safe,” the “Tully” star said. “I kind of put my foot down.”
Hardy addressed his actions in the book as well and said, “In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways. The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times.”
The “Inception” actor continued, “What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me . . . I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
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