Kat Dennings recalls six-hour Mad Max audition with Tom Hardy

Kat Dennings has recalled her six-hour audition with Tom Hardy for Mad Max: Fury Road.

The Thor actress revealed on TikTok that she tested for the role of Imperator Furiosa alongside Hardy, who was up for Max Rockatansky and ultimately got the part in the 2015 film.

During the joint screen test, director George Miller and his acting coach put them through what Dennings described as an acting class on "the worst day of your life".

"At one point, they had us switch roles. They had the camera and had us like running around the corner," she recalled. "The worst part of it, I do believe, was when the acting coach told us to say the lines without saying the lines, encouraging us to just make noises instead of the lines."

While the 2 Broke Girls star was "dying" during the exercise, Hardy "really took" to it and was "able to be extremely free and come up with very creative ways of doing these lines".

Dennings revealed that the day took a bizarre turn when the British actor drove her home to her parents' house after the six-hour audition. She took a nap and was stunned to see Hardy still at the house when she re-emerged.

"A few hours later, I go back into the main house and Tom Hardy is still there, having tea with my mother, and just chatting it up," she playfully said, before adding, "I can't say enough about Tom Hardy. I will be a fan of his for life. I think he's a wonderful person. And my mom still talks about him."

The actress told her fans that she was inspired to share her story after seeing a clip of Michael Fassbender discussing his "excruciating" Mad Max audition in March 2025. At the time, he admitted the acting coach "got on (his) nerves" and he "couldn't wait to get out of there".

Earlier this week, Gal Gadot revealed that she had an "intense" four-hour screen test for the movie alongside Tom Hiddleston, but neither of them snagged a part.

Charlize Theron was ultimately cast as Furiosa.