[UPDATED] Tom Hardy’s Answer to Mad Max Journalist “Why Are All These Women in Here, I Thought This Was Supposed to Be a Man’s Movie?”

Mad Max: Fury Road took us to interesting places we never expected this summer. With feminist consultants and some complaining about the female lead, it’s nice to see actor Tom Hardy “gets it.”

The question is asked around the 9:45 mark in this video by Peter Howell, the Toronto Star’s movie critic:

But here’s how the exchange went:

Howell: I have a question for Tom Hardy. Tom, I’ll preface my remarks by saying that I have five sisters, a wife, a daughter, and a mother so I know what it’s like to be outgunned by estrogen. But I just wanted to ask you, as you were reading the script, did you ever think ‘Why are all these women in here? I thought this was supposed to be a man’s movie?’

Hardy: No. [literally everyone laughs] Not for one minute.

Theron: Good for you.

Hardy: That’s kind of obvious. But like, but also in reference to the concept of having a script, that would have been nice. That was more of a concern.

The conversation then turned to discussion of the film being “feminist” which we previously reported Miller’s answer to, “Initially, there wasn’t a feminist agenda.” But we all know how that turned out.

[UPDATE] Howell gave the following statement to Buzzfeed about the question he asked:

My question to Tom Hardy was intended as the opposite of sexism. I was congratulating him for his willingness to share the screen with so many strong women in a franchise and genre more inclined to celebrate the male over the female. He was also willing to be in a co-lead role with Charlize Theron, in a movie called MAD MAX, no less. I think a lot of male stars might have objected to this, but Hardy is of a special breed.

But I don’t think I worded my question very well. Hardy just shrugged it off, although I don’t think he was offended by it. I think this article I wrote gives you a better idea of what I was getting at, which was to celebrate the idea of women being cast in traditionally male roles, not to scorn it.

He’s also apologizing to individuals directly on his Twitter page:

(via youngvulgarian on Twitter)

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Jill Pantozzi

Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."

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