Tom didn't go Mad Max on Charlize

Film star Tom Hardy has rubbished rumours that he and Charlize Theron knocked heads while shooting the new Mad Max movie in 2012.

According to the UK's Daily Mail, Hardy told the May edition of US Esquire magazine that he rated her quite highly.

The 36-year-old English actor was quoted as saying of the rumoured feud with the Benoni-born star: "That's disappointing. I think she is f**king awesome. I think she's incredible. I think she's one of the most talented actresses of our generation."

The newspaper also reported that a celebrity gossip site, PerezHilton.com, was told by a source that the pair couldn't click because Charlize was "uncomfortable with Tom's method acting".

The source was quoted saying: "Professionally, they are doing a wonderful job, but in between takes Tom likes to stay in character and is constantly talking to himself and mumbling things. Charlize has tried to talk to him during breaks in filming but he shuts himself off from the rest of the cast."

In between filming, Theron sported a shaven head while she enjoyed downtime in Cape Town with her mother, Gerda, and her adopted son Jackson. She had lunch in Granger Bay, and dinner in Camps Bay. She spent three months in Swakopmund, Namibia, filming the Australian movie.

The Times reported last year that the film's production crew failed to do a necessary environmental impact assessment. According to a study by environmentalist Dr Joh Henschel drawn up for the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism, crew also allegedly disregarded highly environmentally sensitive areas, dragged heavy nets and tyres across the desert behind vehicles to cover vehicle tracks between shoots and drove off-road in areas where this is not allowed.

The movie will be released next year.