Mad Max Director on Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron's Feud: 'Disruption That Could Be Avoided'

Summary:

• On the set of Mad Max: Fury Road, Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron had a feud with each other that complicated the filming process.
• According to director George Miller, Theron was frustrated with Hardy’s lateness, and he was infuriated by her remarks about it.
• Miller saw their conflict as a reflection of their character’s relationship, and Hardy and Theron’s feud calmed down after some time.

The shooting of Mad Max: Fury Road was notoriously troubled by its two lead stars’ feud: Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron failed to work well together and had conflicts on the set, proving to be quite a difficult combination for director George Miller. Recently, the director spilled the beans on the Hardy vs. Theron feud and explained what had happened between them back in 2014.

Tom Hardy Proved Difficult to Work With

What sparked the conflict between the two lead stars was Tom Hardy’s consistent lateness to the set. Her co-star’s irresponsible behavior frustrated Charlize Theron beyond measure, and she called him out on being “disrespectful.” Hardy’s response was harsh (though unknown), and Theron requested a female mediator to present at all times when the two actors filmed scenes together.

“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 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,” director George Miller shared with The Telegraph.

Despite having two A-listers at odds on the set, Miller didn’t lose hope.

Miller Looked at the Conflict Differently

When two strong personalities clash as strongly as Hardy and Theron did on the set of Fury Road, it’s easy to give up on them — or, on the contrary, try and enforce a strict ruleset for them to control their behavior. But Miller’s creativity allowed him to look at their feud differently: as a reflection of Max and Furiosa ’s relationship.

“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. [But] 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,” the director explained.

According to Miller, Hardy and Theron learned to cooperate better with each other as time went by, just like their characters. But those must have been some tense few months on the set of Fury Road, and we can’t say we envy Miller’s position of being stuck between two A-lister who hated each other with a burning passion.

Source: The Telegraph