Mad Max director George Miller has revealed Tom Hardy reminded him of Mel Gibson when he auditioned to star in the reboot.
The British actor has been cast in the title role in Mad Max: Fury Road, directed by George and due to open in cinemas in May this year, 36 years after the original action adventure he made starring Mel.
George told Empire magazine: “My first impression [of Tom] was that he’s very bright and fast. He’s got this kind of nervous energy.
“Mel had a similar quality of not being able to sit still, always biting the inside of his cheek. Very lively, unpredictable and funny.
“It reminded me a lot of working with animals, this wonderful thing where you don’t quite know what the creature’s going to do next.”
He added: “I found the best thing to do is go for a walk with these guys, because at least then they didn’t have to sit down and talk.
“And that doesn’t mean when they act on screen there isn’t that incredible stillness. But, you know, behind the stillness there’s this very electric energy. And so when I got to meet Tom in person, that was there in spades.”
George explained that this energy was vital to the role as Tom’s character has very few lines in the movie.
He said: “In Fury Road I think Max speaks probably as many lines as he does in Mad Max 2. Twenty or something, I haven’t counted.
“The rest of the time he’s looking at someone, so you have to really know there’s a lot going on inside.”
Mad Max: Fury Road, co-starring Charlize Theron, Zoe Kravitz, Nicholas Hoult and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is due out on May 15, 2015.
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