Tom Hardy has addressed claims that Charlize Theron was "scared s***less" by the "aggressive" actor on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road.
The pair had a fiery relationship during the filming in 2015, and would often scream at each other in front of crew.
After one explosive row, Charlize assigned a producer who was with her at "all times" for "protection" against the Venom actor.
According to New York Times columnist Kyle Buchanan's new book, she once called the 44-year-old a "f****** c***" after he made her wait on set for hours.
But Tom has spoken about his relationship with Charlize and called the experience "overwhelming".
He told columnist Kyle: "'In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways. The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times.
"What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me. That’s something that can’t be faked. I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion."
Tom took over Mel Gibson's title character and Charlize starred as newcomer Imperator Furiosa, a lieutenant to the villain Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne).
Camera operator Mark Goellnicht spoke of how he once witnessed one of the pair's rows.
He said that Tom was often late for filming, and one day Charlize waited hours in costume for him to arrive.
"Gets to nine o’clock, still no Tom," Goellnicht recounted.
'“Charlize, do you want to get out of the War Rig and walk around?'," he said he asked her.
He explained that Charlize then refused to move, adding: "She was really going to make a point. She didn’t go to the bathroom, didn’t do anything. She just sat in the War Rig."
Despite producers making a "special request" for Tom to be on time, he turned up at 11am.
When he arrived she was furious.
Mark said: "'She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, 'Fine the f**king c*** a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew', and 'How disrespectful you are!'
"She was right. Full rant. She screams it out. It’s so loud, it’s so windy — he might’ve heard some of it, but he charged up to her up and went, 'What did you say to me?'"
Do you enjoy reading about celebrities? Sign up for all the best celeb news from the Mirror here .
The camera man said that Tom was "quite aggressive" and that Charlize "really felt threatened".
It was then that she turned around and demanded that she had protection.
Charlize said: "It got to a place where it was kind of out of hand, and there was a sense that maybe sending a woman producer down could maybe equalize some of it, because I didn’t feel safe."
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
