Charlize Theron 'Didn't Feel Safe' with Tom Hardy on Mad Max: Fury Road Set: They 'Hated Each Other'

Charlize Theron and her costar Tom Hardy clashed while filming 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road.

Journalist Kyle Buchanan's book Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road details the strained relationship between Theron, 46, and Hardy, 44, which got so bad at one point that Theron requested "protection" from Hardy.

Theron, who played Imperator Furiosa in the film, claimed in the book that her costar was often late to set, including one day when he arrived over three hours after his 8 a.m. call time.

Mark Goellnicht, a camera operator on Mad Max: Fury Road said that Theron arrived at set on time and remained ready to shoot until Hardy showed up. "She was really going to make a point," he said. "She didn't go to the bathroom, didn't do anything. She just sat in the War Rig."

Upon Hardy's arrival, Theron said to him, "How disrespectful are you?" before suggesting the producers should "fine the f— c— a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he's held up this crew".

Hardy then allegedly charged up to Theron, asking her, "What did you say to me?"

Goellnicht said in the book that Hardy seemed "quite aggressive" and that Theron "really felt threatened." He added, "That was the turning point, because then she said, 'I want someone as protection.' "

Theron detailed the experience in the book, saying, "It got to a place where it was kind of out of hand, and there was a sense that maybe sending a woman producer down could maybe equalize some of it, because I didn't feel safe."

She added, "I don't want to make excuses for bad behavior, but it was a tough shoot. Now, I have a very clear perspective on what went down. I don't think I had that clarity when we were making the movie. I was in survival mode; I was really scared s—----."

Hardy admitted in the book that he was "in over my head in many ways" while filming the movie.

"The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me," he said. "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."

PEOPLE has reached out to Hardy's rep for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.

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Other people working on Mad Max: Fury Road are quoted in the book, saying tensions between Theron and Hardy were high, with editor J Houston Yang claiming, "it's clear that those two people hated each other."

Yang added, "They didn't want to touch each other, they didn't want to look at each other, they wouldn't face each other if the camera wasn't actively rolling."

Nicholas Hoult, who costarred in the film with Theron and Hardy, said in the book that working with the two actors was similar to being "on your summer holidays and the adults in the front of the car are arguing."

Theron and Hardy previously spoke about the struggle of making the instant action classic in an oral history about the film published by The New York Times in 2020.

"I think because of my own fear, we were putting up walls to protect ourselves instead of saying to each other, 'This is scary for you and it's scary for me, too. Let's be nice to each other,'" Theron said at the time. "In a weird way, we were functioning like our characters: Everything was about survival."

Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road is now available for purchase.