14 DAY TRIAL // Tom Hardy, together with co-stars Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult, were on hand at the CinemaCon 2015 to promote director George Miller’s reboot of the “Mad Max” franchise. “Mad Max: Fury Road” opens wide on May 15, so get ready for more promo interviews like the one below.
Hardy spoke with Entertainment Tonight about what it was like to be offered the opportunity to take over from Mel Gibson as Mad Max, and admitted to feeling nervous about the job. Gibson’s Max is “iconic” so he’s not trying to replace him: in his eyes, Gibson will always be Max.
The way he sees it, this is a new iteration of the story, one where Max is no longer at the center of attention: he is now a “cog” in the machine that is Miller’s universe.
“On this outing, George [Miller] has had 30-something years' worth of reinvestment in a world that he created. And he asked me to come along and play his Max for him. And I'm not gonna say no, am I?” Hardy says.
“Fury Road” will be his first major outing as lead in a blockbuster film. He knows that if this one is well received by critics and fans, he will be the star of his own franchise. How was he to say no, indeed.