Gal Gadot spent four hours auditioning for Fury Road, with Tom Hiddleston opposite her

If you thought the Mad Max: Fury Road casting process was straightforward, think again. On Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gal Gadot let slip a particularly juicy bit of Hollywood what-if: she very nearly led Fury Road herself, and her screen-test partner? None other than Tom Hiddleston.

Auditioning for George Miller

Let me set the picture. It was winter in London, Gadot layered up against the cold, trundling into what she described as a downright beautiful house that served as director George Miller's makeshift office. There, she and Hiddleston cracked on for four hours of auditioning—proper intensive stuff, according to her. So intensive, in fact, she ended up down to a tank top by the end of it. And this isn't idle chit-chat; this was a full-on screen test for the part of Furiosa, a role that would go on to define Charlize Theron's career (and, let’s be honest, steal scenes from Tom Hardy left and right).

Here's how Gadot remembered it to Horowitz on the pod: "We came to London, and I remember walking into this beautiful home in London, into this office, and we stayed there for 4 hours. I came out in like a tank top. It was so intensive the work that we've done and how much we filmed."

Gadot was well pleased with how she handled herself, saying she genuinely felt good about what they put down on tape. As for Hiddleston, she had nothing but glowing words, branding him "such an incredible actor" despite admitting she'd never met him before. At the time, he was largely known for his theatre work in England, but apparently, he left quite the impression. Gadot, for her part, eventually concluded that Miller "had a vision for what he wanted," which, in Hollywood translation, means the role wasn't hers in the end—Theron landed it and, as we’ve all seen, ran with it straight to history books and six Oscars at the 88th Academy Awards.

Gadot Now: From Near-Misses to Lead Roles

The audition for Mad Max happened while she was testing for other heavy-hitter projects—though she didn't name names, it's not exactly hard to guess, given what came next in her career. These days, Gadot's fronting The Runner, a brand new action-thriller for Amazon MGM Studios helmed by Kevin Macdonald. The film lands on Prime Video on 2 September 2026, with Gadot playing Maia, a single mum who also happens to be a lawyer, racing across an entire city to rescue her kidnapped son. Alongside her is Damian Lewis, who voices the mysterious caller directing her every move—a bit of a twist on the Liam Neeson ‘Taken’ template, this one. For the record, Gadot told Horowitz she cannot stand running as an exercise, which, considering the physical demands of the film, feels deliciously ironic.

The Runner releases 2 September 2026 exclusively on Prime Video.