The premiere of ‘Furiosa: From the Mad Max saga’ at the Cannes Film Festival and in cinemas around the world (this Friday, May 24, 2024) is bringing back the memory of the clashes and discussions on social networks starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, George Miller’s previous film. However, what very few remember is that in the shadow of hatred between Hollywood stars, a love story was born that ended in a wedding: that of their stunt doubles, Dane and Dayna Grant.
New Zealand stuntwoman Dayna Grant, who replaced Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa in the most dangerous action scenes, and stuntman Dane Grant, Tom ‘Max’ Hardy’s double with fellow New Zealander Jacob Tomuri, fell madly in love on set of the post-apocalyptic action film between fights and fights between the main actors, to the point that they got married and had a child.
“Working together day after day was like a blast, but nothing compares to the initial fight rehearsal. In the movie, it’s the first time Max meets Furiosa and they fight in a sequence for which the action choreographer gave us “He had to train non-stop for weeks,” Dayna told The Telegraph in 2015, the year Mad Max: Fury Road was released. Dane added: “Dayna and I had a lot in common with those two characters: we met for the first time, we learned to trust each other under stressful conditions… We basically just got on with what we had to do while on a mission.” through the desert surrounded by strange post-apocalyptic characters dressed in peculiar ways.”
The bad relationship between Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy on the filming of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, revealed in the book ‘Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, by Kyle Buchanan reached his hottest point the day Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy exploded and almost came to blows. Mark Goellnicht, camera operator, remembers it this way: “The call on set was at eight. Charlize arrived right at eight o’clock, sat down in the War Rig, knowing that Tom was not going to be punctual even though they insisted that he arrive on time. Tom did not show up.”
Kyle Buchanan ‘Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road’
Goellnicht continues: “It’s nine o’clock, and Tom’s still gone. ‘Charlize, do you want to get out of the War Rig and walk, or do you want to…?’ ‘No, I’m going to stay here.’ She didn’t go to the bathroom, she didn’t do anything. She just sat in the War Rig. And a couple of hours later… “Eleven o’clock. Charlize is still sitting in the War Rig, in makeup and costume after three hours. Tom appears walking calmly through the desert. She jumps out of the truck and starts yelling at him : ‘Fine this damn idiot $100,000 for every minute he insulted this team. You’re disrespectful!’ Tom turns around and faces her. ‘What did you say to me?’ “quite aggressive, to the point that she felt threatened and after finishing the fight she asked for protection.”
Fran Chico is an expert in cinema and series, specialized in cultural dissemination and film criticism. He is a recognized critic on Rotten Tomatoes and Filmaffinity. Although his favorite genre is horror, the same thing tells you about the new blockbuster from Marvel’s MCU and about an auteur film to claim from the festival circuit. There is no series from Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+ that escapes its radar, delving into the catalog of each platform to recommend and analyze its best content.
Fran has been writing in Fotogramas for more than a year, but his beginnings date back almost two decades ago in film forums and blogs such as Planeta Claqueta or Moviementarios. He was founder and part of the board of directors of the digital publication of film criticism and analysis Revista Mutaciones and a member of the Association of Cinematographic Informants of Spain (AICE), the organization that awards the Feroz Awards, as well as a voter for the Blogos de Oro al indie movies. After completing the Master of Film Criticism at the Madrid Film School (ECAM) taught by Caimán Cuadernos de Cine, he has collaborated and/or covered film festivals such as San Sebastián, Sitges and Filmadrid as a specialized press for more than 10 years, along the way interviewing relevant directors, actors and actresses from the national industry such as Penélope Cruz, Carlos Saura, Ana de Armas, José Luis Cuerda or José Sacristán and internationally such as James Wan, Edgar Wright or Dario Argento.
His knowledge and experience have led him to be a film video blogger for Fnac Spain and director and host of the podcast Holocausto Zinéfago, with more than 150 programs broadcast and available in which cinema and humor are mixed from a unique and original.
