Toronto Star reporter says “Fury Road” should have been a “man’s movie” and it wasn’t: did it not bother Hardy?

May 29, 2015 07:52 GMT  ·  By

“Mad Max: Fury Road,” the newest critical hit from writer / director George Miller, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of weeks back. The entire cast and Miller were on hand to promote it: you can see the panel in full below.

While this was made available online on May 14, it’s just now getting increased attention for something that occurs at the 9:46 mark in the video, when Toronto Star reporter Peter Howell asked actor Tom Hardy (Max Rockatansky) if he wasn’t taken aback when he read the script and he noticed that there were “so many” women in it.

As Howell puts it, wasn’t “Mad Max” supposed to be “a man’s movie”? Then why was the iconic character so “outgunned by estrogen”? The obvious implication is that a man’s movie doesn’t allow for the inclusion of a female character that is the man’s equal, let alone of more.

Had Tom Hardy’s reply been any colder, all the journos in the room might have caught a cold. “No. Not for one minute. That’s kind of obvious,” he said with a subtle roll of the eye. He added that the idea of having a script would have been awesome though.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” didn’t have a script per se, just storyboards.

Tom Hardy is an outspoken feminist, and “Fury Road” is Hollywood’s most feminist big-budget release in years because it includes not only several strong female characters who don’t serve as backdrop / decorations, but the most badass leading female in Imperator Furiosa, who stands on equal footing with Max.