Charlize Theron On Tom Hardy ‘Mad Max’ Set Tension: ‘We Were Either Fighting Or Icing Each Other’

Charlize Theron has opened up about her tension-filled working experience with Tom Hardy on the set of 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Kyle Buchanan’s book, “Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road,” detailing what went on behind the cameras when the film was being made, officially came out Tuesday. In a piece for Vanity Fair, Buchanan shared an excerpt from the book that featured Theron’s thoughts on the hurdles they faced while filming.

“It was like two parents in the front of the car. We were either fighting or we were icing each other — I don’t know which one is worse — and they had to deal with it in the back,” the 46-year-old actress said while recalling the tense atmosphere between her and her 44-year-old co-star on the set.

Theron admitted that it was “horrible” and, in hindsight, she wished she and Hardy had put their differences aside for the sake of their peers and the crew.

“We should not have done that; we should have been better. I can own up to that,” she added.

The grueling production schedule and overall lack of trust in each other put a toll on their professional relationship, leading to several arguments on the set. But one incident really made a big impact on Theron and Hardy and changed how they dealt with each other for the remainder of the filming process, as per Variety.

In the book, camera operator Mark Goellnicht shared that Theron finally exploded one day when Hardy showed up three hours late for an 8 a.m. call time. The actor was always late for a morning call time, and that finally got on Theron’s last nerve as she was made to wait for hours in the War Rig with full costume and makeup on.

“She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, ‘Fine the f--king cunt a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew,’ and ‘How disrespectful you are!’ She was right. Full rant. She screams it out. It’s so loud, it’s so windy — he might’ve heard some of it, but he charged up to her up and went, ‘What did you say to me?’ He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point,” Goellnicht stated.

Theron said that at that point things went out of hand, so she asked for protection in the presence of Hardy. Because she didn’t feel safe anymore, a woman producer, Denise Di Novi, was sent to the set in the Namibia desert to shadow her and ensure there would be no further conflicts.

Despite their feud on the set, “Mad Max: Fury Road” went on to become a huge success. The 2015 film grossed $374 million at the worldwide box office and also snagged six Oscars out of its 10 total nominations.

The film won the Academy Awards for best costume design, production design, makeup and hairstyling, film editing, sound mixing and sound editing. It was the movie that took home the most Oscars at the 2016 ceremony, according to The Verge.