We all know how tough it is to meet people. Getting set up on blind dates, online dating, people will try anything to find that special someone. Sometimes however, you meet people in the last place you expect, like the middle of an apocalyptic wasteland surrounded by murderous zealots trying to kill you. That was the case for a couple of crew members on the set of Mad Max:Fury Road.
The Telegraph tells the story of love found in the harsh Namibian desert. Dane Grant was the South African stuntman who was brought in during rehearsals for Fury Road to stand in for Max’s Tom Hardy. Dayna Porter was the native New Zealander stunt double for Charlize Theron, having worked with her before in Snow White and the Huntsman. (Yes, their names are Dane and Dayna, and this is already super cute.) They spent a lot of time together initially as the first meeting/fight scene between Max and Theron’s Furiosa took weeks of practice to get right. Apparently weeks of repeatedly throwing punches at each other brought about a unique bond and the two fell in love. They are now married with a 14 month old son.
The couple can thank the difficulty of shooting in the desert for giving them time to get to know each other. While filming was only expected to last a month it ended up running from May until December of 2012. While primary Hardy stunt double duties would go on to be handled by another New Zealander, Jacob Tomuri, Grant would stay on board to play some of the war boys in the film, so he got to hang around and get to know Dayna Porter, now Dayna Grant better.
Dane Grant views it as life imitating art as, like the characters they portrayed, they had to learn to trust each other in harsh desert environment. One can imagine that in a situation like filming Mad Max you’re going to make some strong relationships. Still, in a movie that had over 150 stunt people for some of the most extensive practical effects in recent memory, it’s a marvel that they were able to find each other. See the happy couple on set here:
So here’s to love blooming in the desert in the most romantic scene we can imagine: Two people beating the hell out of each other while cars explode all around them.
