To the list of movies that will for ever carry with them the stink of disreputable on-set behaviour (such as Last Tango in Paris and Kill Bill) comes a surprising new addition. Mad Max: Fury Road is already a contender for the best and most berserk action film of the century so far. Unfortunately, it now transpires that the craziness was not restricted to porcupine-spined jalopies, double-necked flamethrower guitars and other markers of its delirious visual excess. With the publication of Kyle Buchanan’s Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max Fury Road, it is now a matter of public record that Charlize Theron felt so threatened and intimidated by her co-star, Tom Hardy, that she asked to be protected from him – and that no one called time on his behaviour.
To cut a long standoff short, it seems – after weeks of tension and bubbling aggression – that Theron berated Hardy for his persistent lateness, which had resulted in many hours of delays on set in the Namibian desert. One morning, after he kept her and the crew waiting for more than three hours, she suggested the producers should “fine the fucking cunt $100,000 for every minute that he’s held up this crew”. His response included “charging up to her” and saying, “What did you say to me?” Theron, whose baby daughter was with her in Namibia, requested that a female producer, Denise Di Novi, should be present to protect her – “I was really scared shitless,” Theron said – but this was overruled by another producer, Doug Mitchell, who blocked Di Novi’s attendance. The director, George Miller, says that if he were faced again with the same situation, “I would probably be more mindful”. How reassuring for an actor to know that a director will “probably” have her back.
