Tom Hardy Talks MAD MAX 4

“I’m rather, obviously, limited to what I can say. These things are always binded to secrecy and I think that’s a good thing for the film anyway. I’m not allowed to give away anything. Without incriminating myself in any way, it’s a very big film. To step into the shoes of Mel Gibson. George [Miller] and Mel created the franchise Mad Max, which started off as an independent which then blew up. It took off. It became the Mad Max as we know it with t-shirts and DVDs…
There were many, many actors that would probably be right for Mad Max and there’s plenty out there who could probably do an exceptional job to portray him. It’s especially a challenge to step in the shoes of such an iconic character. So obviously I’m aware that I’m going to take a certain level of casualties when I go in and play him. If I concentrate on that, then it’s obviously not going to be the best thing for the project.”

“I can’t say when I’m going to be in front of the cameras. I’m actually headed tonight to Australia to start some stunt-training. I’m training now. Even though I’m smoking. I’m meant to drop 30 pounds, so smoking and one meal a day is my training at the moment. I’m going to start fighting soon, the harder stuff, when we get close to the line…
[We’re] shooting for probably nine months. The training period is allocated as two months, technically. We don’t know whether it’s going to push a little bit or come up a little bit, we’re in sort of a gray area. There’s various anomalies and shifting papers. All kinds of people’s schedules, from what I’m aware, need to be tied down. The movie is absolutely healthy. So it is going, it’s just a question of, not if, [but] when precisely.”