Theron had a rough time on the set of Mad Max:Fury Road. In 2015, the year that George Miller's epic post- apocalyptic road rage movie was released to theaters, Theron gave an interview saying that her co-star was crazy.
Kyle Buchanan's Blood, Sweat and Chrome, a new oral history tell-all book, paints a pretty tame, hot-and-cold dynamic between the two. Buchanan, a pop culture reporter for the New York Times, conducted more than 130 interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Theron, to get a full perspective of the production. An excerpt from the book has been published by Vanity Fair, and in it, Theron describes some of the horrible conditions she faced while filming.
The excerpt paints a more dramatic picture of the set conditions than has been described in previous interviews. It has been an open secret in Hollywood that he can be difficult to work with, and he sometimes isn't as professional as he could be. Buchanan's book shows that there is at least some awareness that his behavior isn't appropriate. The accounts in the excerpt show how Miller and the producers failed to protect Theron's well-being and mental health during filming, as well as the ways in which Hardy behaved poorly.
Many people explain in the excerpt what they saw between Theron and Hardy, and how they felt on set. Blood, Sweat and Chrome's multiple accounts emphasize the intense, traumatic, and terrifying nature of Theron and Hardy's interactions, including a moment where the co-stars nearly came to blows. Theron went over to confront him, yelling across the desert, when he finally showed up, according to the excerpt.
[Theron] was right. Full rant. She screams it out. It’s so loud, it’s so windy—[Hardy] 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, because then she said, “I want someone as protection.” She then had a producer that was assigned to be with her all the time.
The two had yelling matches before. Blood, Sweat and Chrome paints a clear instigator in the situation described here. The first assistant camera operator is quoted as saying that it felt provocative, but he doesn't know if it was power play or not.
The excerpts chosen for Vanity Fair attempt to create a balance between the two actors. There is a clear difference between a man being consistently unprofessional and a woman who is an extremely professional actor. Theron has multiple quotes where she admits fault for almost every instance where she reacted to Hardy's provocations and method acting, while he has only given a couple interviews. He adds a single quote in this excerpt.
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.
This isn't an apology. If Theron demanded a woman producer to be around her at all times because she didn't feel safe, it's not an admission of inappropriate behavior. The excerpt states that this female producer was brought in at Theron's request, but never allowed on set because another producer, Doug Mitchell, refused to let Miller's direction be interrupted.
The final result of all this is a film that is a near miracle. The off-screen relationship between the two co-leads is as intense as Mad Max:Fury Road. Should good art come at the expense of the actors, who did not consent or agree to be traumatized for the vision of a director? Should a film about the fight that women face for control over their own bodies have put a real woman on a set where she felt unsafe?
As a result of Buchanan's reporting, there will be no repercussions for Warner Bros., Miller, and his actors.
Maybe in publicizing them there there is a chance for a real apology and for Miller to take these insights and apply them to his new Furiosa prequel film, scheduled for 2024. It's a terrible irony that the movie that was created at the expense of Theron was one of the most sought-after female action movies.
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