Charlize Theron(a South African actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She became an American citizen in 2007) and Tom Hardy are in negotiations to star in "Fury Road," this century's installment of the "Mad Max" movie series from writer-director George Miller.Charlize Theron rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate, and The Cider House Rules. She received critical acclaim and an Academy Award for her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster, for which she became the first African to win an Academy Award in a major acting category. Charlize Theron received another Academy Award nomination for her performance in North Country.
Despite his long association with the fourth movie, Mel Gibson is not reprising his iconic role of Max Rockatansky, the hardened ex-cop in a future beset by gas shortages and marauding gangs.
That job goes to Hardy, the British-born actor who stole scenes as Handsome Bob in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla." ("RocknRolla" has proved to be a launch pad for Hardy, who booked a role in Christopher Nolan's "Inception" as well. He also starred in "Bronson.")
Theron is playing the female lead.
Story details are being kept under wraps; what's known is that the movie takes place a short while after the story detailed in 1985's "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," which would keep Mad Max relatively young.
The filmmakers are eyeing a summer 2010 shoot in Australia. The movie will be an Australian production that Warner Bros. will distribute.
"Road" has been in the works for more than a decade, with Gibson attached to star at one point.
Theron appears next in this fall's "The Road," the big-screen adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel.
