Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy clash heads
It turns out Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy clashed heads on set of their 2015 movie Mad Max: Fury Road.
They opened up about their behaviour in Kyle Buchanan’s new book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road.
In an excerpt of the book, obtained by Vanity Fair ahead of its release, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley recalled watching their feud play out on set.
The actress explained Tom and Charlize, 'have completely different approaches to their craft.'
Screenwriter Kelly Marcel added, 'Tom is very physical and all over the place and would try very different things.'
'Charlize is cerebral and very consistent in the way that she approaches a character.'
'They’re both powerhouses, but in their very different ways of working.'
'Which, weirdly, is why the film works: It’s all pouring out on the screen,' she said.
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Nicholas Hoult weighs in
Nicholas Hoult, who played Nux, described the atmosphere on set as very, 'tense at times.'
He said, 'It was kind of like you’re on your summer holidays and the adults in the front of the car are arguing.'
Charlize agreed: 'He’s right, it was like two parents in the front of the car.'
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'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 actress defended, 'I don’t want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot.'
'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,' Charlize continued, 'I was in survival mode; I was really scared sh**less.'
Key second assistant director Samantha McGrady explained Charlize is quite punctual, unlike Tom.
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She said, 'Sometimes I would just call her and say, “We’re going to be ready in an hour,” and I knew she would always get in the car, get her makeup on, and get on set.'
Tom however, was quite the opposite according to stunt driver Matt Taylor: 'When you’ve got someone like Tom who’s a larrikin and is late and very Method in his performances, just in sheer personality, there was always going to be a clash.'
'...a really bad moment...'
It's noted that veteran producer Denise Di Novi was brought in to, 'mediate the conflict,' between Tom and Charlize.
On this, Charlize said, 'I don’t want to rehash things, but it came out of a really bad moment where things kind of came to blows between me and Tom.'
Tom admitted, 'In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways.'
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'The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times,' he continued.
'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.'
Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road is out now.
