Charlize Theron recalls Tom Hardy's 'bad behavior' on 'Mad Max' set in new book: 'I didn't feel safe'

What a lovely day.

On Tuesday, journalist and author Kyle Buchanan released his captivating debut book "Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of 'Mad Max: Fury Road'" (William Morrow, 384 pp.), which exhaustively details how filmmaker George Miller created the long-awaited fourth movie in his "Mad Max" franchise.

Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the 2015 blockbuster follows war captain Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), who teams up with drifter Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) to transport a group of female prisoners to a safe haven known as the Green Place. Co-starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough and Hugh Keays-Byrne (as ruthless leader Immortan Joe), the film earned 10 Oscar nominations including best picture, winning six in technical categories.

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Featuring dozens of new interviews with cast and crew, Buchanan's delightful oral history reveals the backstories of many of the film's most iconic moments, from Furiosa's scream to the guitar-playing Doof Warrior. It also delves into the highly publicized clash between Hardy and Theron on set.

Here are just a few of the fascinating revelations from "Blood, Sweat & Chrome":

Tom Hardy was 'quite aggressive' toward Charlize Theron

Some of the juiciest passages of "Blood, Sweat & Chrome" are about the movie's arduous production, which lasted for nine months in the Namibian desert and South Africa before reshoots. The cast recalls feeling extremely isolated and at times frustrated with Miller's methods: They would often shoot without scripts and only for a few seconds at a time, meaning that actors rarely got to play out a scene in full. Sometimes, they might shoot for 14 hours and only end up with 30 seconds of usable footage for the day.

On set, "it was hard to watch with Tom. He really had moments of frustration, of anger," Kravitz said. "Charlize did, too, but I feel like he's the one who really took it out on George the most, and that was a bummer to see."

Hardy and Theron also butted heads over their antithetical acting styles: him, experimental and wanting justification for every piece of choreography; and her, straightforward and wishing to get everybody home as soon as possible.

"It was like two parents in the front of the car," Theron said. "We were either fighting or we were icing each other – I don't know which one is worse – and (our co-stars) had to deal with it in the back. It was horrible! It was not a conducive working environment. ... I apologize profusely."

Tensions exploded one day when Hardy showed up three hours late. Theron and their cast mates had been waiting in full hair and makeup in Furiosa's truck, the War Rig, when he walked onto set. She proceeded to swear at Hardy, calling him "disrespectful" and demanding he be fined "a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he's held up the crew."

"He charged up to her and said, 'What did you say to me?' " camera operator Mark Goellnicht recalls. "He was quite aggressive. She really felt threatened, and that was the turning point because then she said, 'I want someone as protection.' She then had a producer that was assigned to be with her all the time."

"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," Theron said. "A lot of what I felt was coming my way from Doug (Mitchell, a producer) was ... oh, (screw) it. I'll just say it. It was a man forgiving another man for really bad behavior, and I didn't feel safe."

Veteran producer Denise Di Novi helped mediate some of the conflicts, and the co-stars eventually reached a level of understanding not unlike their characters' prickly but respectful relationship. Hardy, for his part, insists in the book that he couldn't have bullied Theron.

"Charlize is an intense woman. Very intense, actually. In a good way," Hardy said. "I mean, look at her in 'Monster' – that's not somebody walking in the park. You don't just summon up that kind of authenticity without bringing a tremendous wealth of artistic ability. She's a very serious actor. So, I don't see why she would ever be intimidated by me or in any way feel frightened. I think that was more bollocks."

Gal Gadot, Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna all auditioned for 'Fury Road'

Given that "Fury Road" took roughly two decades to bring to the screen, most of Hollywood was at one point considered for key roles. Jessica Chastain, Ruth Negga and Gugu Mbatha-Raw all auditioned for Furiosa, as did Gal Gadot, who was "incredible," casting director Ronna Kress said. Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence and a pre-"The Wolf of Wall Street" Margot Robbie read for the roles of Immortan Joe's concubine (also known as the Wives).

"Usually, actors turn up dressed very casually, but boy, Rihanna looked spectacular when she walked in," Miller said. "I'm not sure she was even aware of the content of the movie, so she dressed up as Rihanna, which was the right thing to do."

Heath Ledger and Eminem were in the running to play Max

Because of his age and off-screen controversies, Miller opted to recast the series' original star, Mel Gibson. Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Renner, Armie Hammer, Eric Bana, Sam Worthington and Joel Kinnaman were just a few of the names considered for the title character. Heath Ledger had also talked about the role with Miller before his 2008 death of an accidental overdose at age 28.

"The person who was foremost in my mind was Heath," Miller said. "Every time he'd come through Sydney, he'd pop in and we'd talk generally about things, and then we started to talk about 'Mad Max.' We lost him, which was such a pity – not for 'Mad Max' but because he was an exceptional person."

At one point, when the film was set to shoot in Australia, Miller thought of casting Eminem as Max. But the rapper didn't want to travel so far away from home and discussions ended there.

"He had done '8 Mile' and I found that really interesting – I thought, 'He's got that quality,' " Miller said. The director consulted with Brittany Murphy, who featured in both "Happy Feet" and "8 Mile," and "she had no reservations about saying what a wonderful talent he is."

Furiosa almost had dreads and face tattoos

Furiosa's buzzed locks? That was all Theron. Early on, Furiosa was supposed to have platinum blonde hair and dreads, as well as "a costume that felt a little more Barbarella-y," Theron said. She even might've had face tattoos.

"In the original storyboards, Furiosa and a whole bunch of characters had these big, smiling jaws tattooed on them like on a Spitfire warplane," senior prosthetic artist Sean Genders said. "I was like, 'That's iconic.' "

But Theron and hair and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt fought against the long hair, insisting that it wasn't practical for a warrior like Furiosa.

"I called (Miller) and said, 'I don't know how she's getting by in the mechanics' room with all this hair,' " Theron said. "I think we need to shave my head and she needs to be a more androgynous, grounded character."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Mad Max' book: Charlize Theron recalls Tom Hardy's 'bad behavior'