Tom Hardy doesn’t have the best rep with journalists and co-stars. At this point, why haven’t we just accepted that he’s not the most likable guy? I mean he looks great from far away, he’s done some great PR with his dog on the red carpet and he’s starred in some of the most daring cinematic projects of all time, including Band of Brothers, The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road.
Charlize Theron, Hardy’s co-star on the set of Mad Max, had some less than cryptic words to share about her experience with the difficult actor:
From what I hear, he’s not like that on every movie—I hear he’s had good experiences. Maybe the movie is what it is because we struggled so much with each other, and those characters had to struggle so much with each other. If we were chum-chum, maybe the movie would have been 10 times worse.
Whatever they did to make that movie what they did, I might suggest that every film conjure it. Director George Miller agrees. Their tension permeated their characters into the believable wonder that they were:
I’m not saying that they were seething right through, but the trajectory of the characters can’t help but seep into the work. When they first meet each other, they’re trying to kill each other. As the two characters come together out of necessity and rather reluctantly, they have to find a degree of trust. And to some extent that was the trajectory of their relationship as well.
So is that good news? Is Charlize still on board to make more movie magic with Mr. Hardy in the future? I’m not sure I can live in a world without their rivalry creating more digestible wonder for the rest of us peasants.