Max

No more Mel as Max. Tom Hardy steps up as the new Raggedy Man.

MAD MAX TO THUNDER BACK

Tom Hardy is to play the lead in Mad Max Fury Road

Sunday November 8,2009

By Henry Fitzherbert

BRITISH actor Tom Hardy is stepping into the shoes of Mel Gibson after being hired to play the lead in Mad Max: Fury Road.

The 31-year-old rising star, who recently won acclaim as Heathcliff in ITV’s Wuthering Heights, will star opposite Oscar winner Charlize Theron in the new post-apocalyptic adventure.

Last night a film insider revealed: “After years of false starts the project is finally going ahead. Warner Bros are financing it and filming starts next year in Australia.”

The new project comes 25 years after the third movie, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which co-starred Tina Turner. Fury Road will be set shortly after Thunderdome so the hero can remain young.

Gibson became a star on the back of his performance as the “road warrior” in the 1979 original but was not interested in returning to the role, leaving the path clear for Hardy.

The London-born actor came to the attention of Mad Max producer-director George Miller thanks to his roles in Guy Ritchie’s gangster comedy RocknRolla and Bronson, in which he played notorious British prisoner Charles Bronson.

Terence Doyle, editor of British Film Magazine said: “It’s a major coup for Tom, cementing his status as one of our biggest emerging stars.

“He’s a very versatile actor who is convincingly tough and macho but also hugely sensitive and subtle.”

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