Both Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy were both quite stressed out during the production of George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, with the environment and isolation both taking its toll on the two actors. As bad as it was, however, they actually left the set on good terms - partially in thanks to a self-portrait that Hardy painted and gave to his co-star as a wrap gift.
This odd little bit of trivia comes from the extensive interview that Charlize Theron did with Esquire earlier this year, where she goes into detail about the rocky relationships forged during the Mad Max: Fury Road shoot. After both expressing how difficult the whole production was, and how she actually found an appreciation for Tom Hardy's blunt honesty at times, she then showed the interviewer the aforementioned present - which has a red hand print on the back and an inscription that reads,
You are an absolute nightmare, BUT you are also fucking awesome. I'll kind of miss you. Love, Tommy.
Theron added that the two actors really drove each other crazy during the shoot, and "fuckin' went at it" at times, but the reason for the conflict wasn't exactly lost on her either. They were shooting in the middle of nowhere in rough, desert conditions, and they were working with a director who wasn't making the movie using an actual script. There was even a rough psychological effect that the nature of the shoot had, as Theron explained,
It was like a family road trip that just never went anywhere. We never got anywhere. We just drove. We drove into nothingness, and that was maddening sometimes.
Ultimately, Charlize Theron appreciated Tom Hardy's candor on set, finding the situation better than working with someone who is just passive aggressive and "fake-smiles." By the end of the making of Mad Max: Fury Road, they walked away appreciating what the other brought to the table, and added, "This is the kind of stuff that nobody wants to understand—there's a real beauty to that kind of relationship."
Things don't normally turn out too great when actors and filmmakers are regularly fighting behind the scenes of a film, but that wasn't the case for Mad Max: Fury Road. Instead, this one turned out to be one of the best action blockbusters in the modern era - and both Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy had a big hand in making it that. The movie is not only one of the best reviewed titles of 2015 thus far, but it has also brought in more than $350 million worldwide to date. Sadly we don't know at this point when it will be finding its way to Blu-ray and DVD (likely at the start of the fall), but I definitely plan on scheduling many rewatches.
