The silver lining of Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron’s heated feud
On-set feuds between movie stars are the stuff of legend. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, and Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are just a few on-screen duos who allegedly (or in the case of Davis and Crawford, overtly) had tense relationships off-screen. One of the most recent and highly-publicised examples was Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron on the set of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
For many film fans, the feud was unexpected. Both Hardy and Theron are widely respected in the industry. They have four Oscar nominations between them, one of which Theron won for her role in 2003’s Monster. They also don’t interact much in the film. Directed by George Miller, the story centres on Furiosa (Theron), a warrior in a post-apocalyptic wasteland who makes a bid for freedom from sadistic warlord Immortal Joe. She teams up with Hardy’s Max Rockatansky, but they do very little talking.
In fact, the relationship between the characters seems ideal for two actors who aren’t on great terms since the tension between Max and Furiosa is built into the script. Both are fiercely independent survivors who have relied on no one at any point in their lives and are deeply wary of doing so at any point in the future. And yet, Hardy and Theron still found it nearly unbearable to work with each other.
The source of the tension appears to have been Theron’s frustration with her co-star for showing up late to work when she only had a limited amount of time to spend with her children at the end of the day. At one point, she allegedly asked the production team to “fine the fucking c*nt a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew.” In response, Hardy confronted her, and a producer had to be called in to defuse the situation. Hardy later expressed regret for his part in the feud, saying that they were both under a great deal of pressure and that, in hindsight, he was in over his head.
In an unexpected twist of fate, however, the on-set issues led to a real-life romance. Somewhere along the line, the stunt doubles for Hardy and Theron fell in love. Dane Grant and Dayna Porter met while rehearsing stunts, and sparks immediately flew.
According to Porter, the first scene they rehearsed was the first meeting between Max and Furiosa, in which they fight each other in the wasteland. “Every time we get to work together is a blast,” she said. “But none more so than the initial fight rehearsal.”
It’s lucky that they met in the rehearsal room because, according to Porter, the couple didn’t get to spend much time with each other on set. The tension between Hardy and Theron was so high that the production kept them separated as much as possible, pairing Porter with Hardy and Grant with Theron so that the stars barely had to interact.
The couple is now married and has a child. More recently, they both acted as stunt doubles in the 2018 Jason Statham creature feature, The Meg.
