Charlize Theron And Tom Hardy Up For Mad Max 4?

It's a pretty sure bet that Mel Gibson won't have anything at all to do with a fourth Mad Max movie, but what are the odds on Tom Hardy inheriting the estimable mantle of Max Rockatansky? Very good apparently. And how about Charlize Theron also joining the line up? If we are to believe 'multiple sources', then that's just how it's all shaking out right now.

E! Online report that George Miller is casting for the 4th Max right now. They tell us that everything is shrouded in secrecy and the actors coming in to see director George Miller are only being given a letter of the alphabet by which to identify their character. So how have E! linked Hardy to the lead? Was he the letter M?

It's moderately safe to assume that Theron's character is a new one and she wouldn't be playing Max's wife Jessie or Thunderdome's Aunty Entity – though that would definitely be stop-and-stare mind boggling.

The E! peeps are also keen to note that no formal offers have been made let alone contracts signed. By their standards, this means the film is "a long way from frutition" but I think we geeks could school them in that. Didn't we keenly keep tabs on Inglourious Basterds for almost a decade and a half, for example? A year or two is not much at all in this realm.

What else do we know about the proposed Mad Max sequel?

- Jeremy Renner was rumoured for the lead role back in August. I'd hazard to guess he was another man handed a mysterious letter of the alphabet and called in to audition.

- That there's another, 3D animated Max in development. Well, either that or this one is going to be the animated one – or maybe motion captured. Nobody really knows yet, I suppose. It's that whole shrouded in secrecy thing again.

- Some previous work on a 4th Mad Max has seen Miller collaborating closely with comics artist Brendan McCarthy, who some have credited as the film's screenwriter. McCarthy and Miller have reportedly even gone so far as storyboarding pretty much the entire film.

- At which point, the film had the working title of Mad Max: Fury Road.