Jeremy Renner and Uma Thurman Almost Starred in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Mad Max: Fury Road was one hell of a wild and insane ride. The movie and its director George Miller are praised by a lot of movie fans. Miller pulled off something incredible and epic with this movie and he did it while having to deal with the lead actors clashing with each other over the course of the production.
We recently shared some details on how Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron did not get along and they opened up about the conflicts they had with each other. In retrospect, they both feel that they could have been more understanding of each other.
Another interesting bit of information that was revealed in this interview from The New York Times, was that Jeremy Renner and Uma Thurman were considered for the roles of Max and Furiosa! Renner was so close to landing the role, that Zoë Kravitz was doing chemistry screen tests with him. She explained:
“I did a chemistry test with Jeremy Renner reading for Max, because they hadn’t hired Tom yet.”
Producer Doug Mitchell added:
“There were a number of names thrown out for the female lead back when we first started, [like] Uma Thurman.”
They also considered bringing Mel Gibson back for the role of Max, but in the end, they just felt he was too old to bring back. Mitchell explained:
"Mel is obviously blighted by a number of things that everyone in the world knows about, even though he’s a highly gifted filmmaker and a brilliant actor and a lovely guy behind that demon that sometimes pops out. But he was too old at that point. It just didn’t make sense.”
When it came to casting Hardy in the role, Miller explained:
"I had the same feeling about Tom that I had when Mel Gibson first walked into the room: There was a kind of edgy charm, the charisma of animals. You don’t know what’s going on in their inner depths, and yet they’re enormously attractive. I remember we were talking about Charlize even then. Her agent said she wasn’t interested, but I mentioned it to her over a decade later, and she said, 'No one ever told me!'”
While Hardy and Theron ended up being perfect for their roles, it would have been really interesting to see Renner and Thurman in the film! I can totally imagine them in the roles, and Thurman as Furiosa would have been badass! I think she would have been at least equally as great as Theron. Renner on the other hand, Hardy was definitely the better choice. What do you think?