You understand the needs of a director who wants to protect his set, but when push comes to shove and things get out of hand, you have to be able to think about that in a bigger sense. He was never going to allow anybody to interrupt this world, no matter how fraught the world was.Ĭharlize Theron: Looking back on where we are in the world now, given what happened between me and Tom, it would have been smart for us to bring a female producer in. And you can send your producer, you can do whatever you want, but if you’ve got Doug standing there, there’s absolutely no point unless he wants you there. He’s a bulldog, he’s going to protect George no matter what, at all costs. Kelly Marcel: Doug wouldn’t let Denise actually be on the set. But when I was on set, I still felt pretty naked and alone. If the call time was in the morning, forget it-he didn’t show up.Ĭharlize Theron: She was parked in the production office, and she was checking in with me and we would talk. He was notorious for never being on time in the morning. Charlize got there right at eight o’clock, 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. Mark Goellnicht: I remember vividly the day. You’re like, Come on, it’s midnight and we want to go home.Įventually, veteran producer Denise Di Novi was dispatched to Namibia to mediate the conflict between the film’s two stars.Ĭharlize Theron: 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 Clapham (production runner, Fury Road) : Tom was more in his trailer a lot of the time and would come out for the takes-and sometimes not on time, either. Matt Taylor (stunt driver, Fury Road ): And 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. 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. Samantha McGrady (key second assistant director, Fury Road) : Charlize is the easiest person to deal with in terms of, Okay, we’re ready. Mark Goellnicht (camera operator, Fury Road ): Between Tom and Charlize, it was literally the most contrast I’ve ever seen between two actors. Let’s be nice to each other.” We were functioning, in a weird way, like our characters: Everything was about survival. Which, weirdly, is why the film works: It’s all pouring out on the screen.Ĭharlize Theron: Because of my own fear, we were putting up walls to protect ourselves instead of saying to each other, “Fuck, this is scary for you and it’s scary for me, too. They’re both powerhouses, but in their very different ways of working. Charlize is cerebral and very consistent in the way that she approaches a character. Kelly Marcel (screenwriter and friend of Tom Hardy): Tom is very physical and all over the place and would try very different things. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (“The Splendid Angharad”): It was very interesting to sit in a truck for four months with Tom and Charlize, who have completely different approaches to their craft. In the exclusive excerpt below, the film’s cast and crew recall one of Fury Road’ s biggest hurdles: the bad blood between stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy. But its path to the big screen was torturous and winding, as Kyle Buchanan shows in his oral history Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, out Tuesday. Mad Max: Fury Road was a critical and commercial triumph, grossing nearly $375 million worldwide and earning 10 Oscar nominations (with six wins).

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