‘Mad Max’ Director George Miller Recalls Charlize Theron-Tom Hardy ‘Fury Road’ Set Feud And Says “There’s No Excuse For It”

George Miller, the director of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is revisiting the on-set drama between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in his 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road.

In a new interview, Miller recalled the feud between the stars during the film’s production, which resulted from Hardy’s tardiness.

“They were just two very different performers,” Miller told The Telegraph. “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 that things on the set gradually got better, adding, “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. 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.”

Before filming the prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Miller talked with stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth to ensure a smooth set.

“You have to be obsessive about safety – physical safety, as the shoot goes on and fatigue sets in, but also psychological safety. It’s not like the wild old days,” he said.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters May 24 and it also stars Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Goran D. Kleut, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Quaden Bayles and Daniel Webber.