Everyone is well aware that George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” was one of the most difficult film shoots of the past decade. We know stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy did not get along and there was a ton of frustration and difficulties throughout production.
Many of those issues evaporated once the film premiered and people saw Miller’s wild vision for what it was. The movie now sits proudly as one of the best films of the decade on many lists. Recently though, those involved have opened up about just how bad things got on the film’s shoot.
The New York Times has done a new and utterly candid feature on the making of the film where Theron and Hardy have opened up about what exactly drove them apart.
Secluded in the Namibian desert for months on end, crammed together inside of cars for much of the time, many on the ground didn’t quite understand Miller’s vision for the film which is largely driven by action and lacking in much of a conventional narrative. It all looks thrilling in the final film but much of it was often utterly tedious to shoot. Theron says:
“The biggest thing that was driving that entire production was fear. I was incredibly scared, because I’d never done anything like it. I think the hardest thing between me and George is that he had the movie in his head and I was so desperate to understand it.
All of those young girls kind of turned to me as someone who would problem-solve for them, and this is not anybody’s fault – I only say this now because I know George and I’ve experienced this with George, so I’d fully trust him. But I’ve also trusted directors fully when I didn’t comprehend what they were trying to do, and it just turned into a mess.”
Hardy essentially agrees, saying they had to trust that it would all come together because actually filming it was both tough and confusing:
“Because of how much detail we were having to process and how little control one had in each new situation, and how fast the takes were – tiny snippets of story moments were needed to make the final cut work – we moved fast, and it was at times overwhelming. One had to trust that the bigger picture was being held together.”
As a result, both Theron and Hardy’s frustration and fear turned to anger at times and they took some of it out on Miller, Hardy especially according to co-star Zoe Kravitz:
“Tom really had moments of frustration, of anger. Charlize did, too, but I feel like he’s the one who really took it out on George the most, and that was a bummer to see. But you know, in some ways, you also can’t blame him, because a lot was being asked of these actors and there were a lot of unanswered questions.
As an actor, you make a lot of movies – some of them are good and some of them are bad, and you have to kind of let that go. But with this one, it really felt like we put our actual blood, sweat, tears and time into it, and if it hadn’t been good, I would have been devastated. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, but it was absolutely worth it, and I would do it again if George asked me to.”
Kravitz also revealed she did a chemistry test with Jeremy Renner for the role of Max, but the part ultimately went to Hardy once Miller saw him. Theron says looking back both she and Hardy were effectively in the same boat but neither communicated that to the other:
“In retrospect, I didn’t have enough empathy to really, truly understand what [Hardy] must have felt like to step into Mel Gibson’s shoes. That is frightening! And 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.”
Hardy agrees with that:
“I would agree. 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’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
The studio itself was not happy with the production either. The film was running over budget and over time, and so was forced to wrap principal photography despite not having a beginning or an ending – including all the scenes at the Citadel which hadn’t been filmed yet. As a result, the movie was forced by executive Jeff Robinov to go into post-production without those scenes.
Robinov was soon ousted with Kevin Tsujihara taking the top WB job and so Miller was able to do reshoots in Australia in late 2013 to give the movie the opening and closing it needed.
Head over to The New York Times for the full piece.
