CHARLIZE Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along during Mad Max: Fury Road’s production.
The Oscar-winning actress even confessed she and the Venom star “came to blows.”
Why did Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy fall out?
According to Mad Max: Fury Road’s crew and other cast members, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy’s conflict began with the latter’s repeated tardiness and disregard for their filming schedule.
Respectively, Charlize played the character Furiosa and Tom portrayed the title character.
In Kyle Buchanan’s 2022 book Blood, Sweat & Chrome, he collected several personal accounts from Charlize, Tom, and the rest of the Mad Max team about what happened between the two.
The film’s camera operator Mark Goellnicht shared: “The call on set was eight o’clock.
“Charlize got there right at eight o’clock and sat in the War Rig, knowing that Tom’s never going to be there at eight even though they made a special request for him to be there on time.
“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.”
Fellow Mad Max crew member Ricky Schaumburg said, “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.”
What happened between Charlize and Tom?
After Tom’s string of latenesses delayed production, things escalated between him and Charlize.
One day when the Oscar nominee turned up tardy yet again, the Fast and Furious actress unleashed her frustrations.
The movie’s crew remembered Charlize saying to Tom: “How disrespectful you are! Fine the f*****g c**t a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew.”
Mad Max: Fury Road actress Charlize referred to her co-star Tom as a “f**king c**t”
“He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened and that was the turning point.”
Following their confrontation, Charlize requested a producer to be assigned to her at all times for protection from Tom.
What did Charlize and Tom say about each other?
By Charlize’s recollection, she admitted to Buchanan: “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.
“It got to a place where it was kind of out of hand. I didn’t feel safe.
“The biggest thing that was driving that entire production was fear.”
She elaborated: “I think because of my own fear, we were putting up walls to protect ourselves instead of saying to each other, ‘This is scary for you, and it’s scary for me, too. Let’s be nice to each other.’
“In a weird way, we were functioning like our characters. Everything was about survival.
“In retrospect, I didn’t have enough empathy to really, truly understand what he must have felt like to step into Mel Gibson’s shoes.”
Tom appeared to echo Charlize’s sentiments and confessed: “I think in hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways. 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 want to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
