Mad Max director reveals what happened between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy amid on set feud

Mad Max director George Miller has opened up about the drama on the set of Fury Road between stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy.

Theron and Hardy's characters in the 2015 action adventure may end up becoming allies, however, the story of their relationship in real life as actors was another matter entirely.

First assistant director P.J. Voeten told Kyle Buchanan as part of his book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road that the relationship between the two lead actors was fuelled with 'animosity' even in preproduction stage.

Theron herself admitted the pair were like two parents 'in the front of the car' arguing and were 'either fighting' or 'icing each other'.

"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," she said.

Responding to claims his showing up hours late which led to the pair facing off to one another led to Theron feeling unsafe, Hardy added: "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. I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion."

But why did such a 'clash' happen in the first place? Well, director of the movie Miller has since opened up about what it was like working with the duo and why he thinks their relationship grew so tense.

The actors may've appeared united on screen, but off screen it was a very different story (Warner Bros. Pictures)

In an interview with The Telegraph, Miller reflected Hardy and Theron are 'just two very different performers'.

The director continued: "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."

Miller noted he's 'an optimist' so tried to see the actors' behavior as 'mirroring their characters' and how they 'had to learn to co-operate in order to ensure mutual survival'.

This sentiment was echoed by Theron who told Buchanan the pair were 'functioning, in a weird way, like [their] characters' and 'everything' was indeed 'about survival.

However, that doesn't mean Miller condoned the behavior from the pair.

Director George Miller has weighed in on the on-set drama (Hugh Peterswald/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

He said: "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."

In a bid to prevent a similar incident occurring on follow-up and upcoming film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Miller said he told stars Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy to be 'obsessive about safety' and not just physical but 'psychological safety' too.

UNILAD has contacted Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy's representatives for comment.

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Tom Hardy

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.