George Miller claims 'no excuse' for bad blood between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy on Mad Max set

Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller has addressed the tension between the movie's stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy.

The feud between the two became public when the book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road was released in 2022.

It detailed issues between the two A-listers, including claims that Charlize requested "protection" for her amid mounting tension with Tom.

George has now revealed how he initially thought the atmosphere between the pair was a result of them immersing themselves in their characters.

"I'm an optimist, so I saw their behaviour as mirroring their characters, where they had to learn to cooperate in order to ensure mutual survival," he told The Telegraph.

"There's no excuse for it, and I think there's a tendency in this business to use great performances as an excuse for other disruption that could be avoided."

He revealed how the actors were very different in their approaches to the movie.

"Tom has a damage to him but also a brilliance that comes with it, and whatever was going on with him at the time, he had to be coaxed out of his trailer. Whereas Charlize was incredibly disciplined - a dancer by training, which told in the precision of her performance - and always the first one on set," he shared.

The book claimed Tom often turned up late to set, leaving Charlize and the production crew waiting for up to three hours.

Camera operator Mark Goellnicht told how Charlize asked Tom, "How disrespectful are you?" then said he should be fined "a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he's held up this crew". When Tom became "quite aggressive" in his response, Charlize "really felt threatened".

"That was the turning point," said Mark. "Because then she said, 'I want someone as protection.'"

George has just directed Furiosa, the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, it's due to be released on 24 May.