Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy hit "Fury Road"

South African actress Charlize Theron arrives for the premiere party of the film ''The Burning Plain'' in Los Angeles, September 14, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy are in negotiations to star in "Fury Road," this century's installment of the "Mad Max" movie series from writer-director George Miller.

Despite his long association with the fourth movie, Mel Gibson is not reprising his iconic role of Max Rockatansky, the hardened ex-cop in a future beset by gas shortages and marauding gangs.

That job goes to Hardy, the British-born actor who stole scenes as Handsome Bob in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla." ("RocknRolla" has proved to be a launch pad for Hardy, who booked a role in Christopher Nolan's "Inception" as well. He also starred in "Bronson.")

Theron is playing the female lead.

Story details are being kept under wraps; what's known is that the movie takes place a short while after the story detailed in 1985's "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," which would keep Mad Max relatively young.

The filmmakers are eyeing a summer 2010 shoot in Australia. The movie will be an Australian production that Warner Bros. will distribute.

"Road" has been in the works for more than a decade, with Gibson attached to star at one point.

Theron appears next in this fall's "The Road," the big-screen adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel.

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)