Charlize Theron: One-armed fighting is hard

Charlize Theron spent a lot of the Mad Max: Fury Road shoot on her back like a "tortoise".

The actress takes on the role of Imperator Furiosa in the action epic, alongside Tom Hardy in the title role. Her character has just one arm, which was sometimes difficult for the 39-year-old to remember during filming.

"It was pretty tough to begin with. In some action scenes I'm doing a lot but can only use one arm," she revealed to German magazine TV Movie.

"[Director] George Miller had to keep reminding me because I kept instinctively using my second arm for help. The fights were particularly hard. Often I'd lie there like a tortoise, unable to get up."

Luckily Charlize was able to relax a bit between takes, revealing she indulged in some yoga and knitting.

Filmmaker George is also behind the first three Mad Max movies, which starred Mel Gibson as the title character. Charlize can remember the brutal films from her childhood but was protected from the worst of it thanks to her parents.

"I was eight, but wasn't allowed to watch the whole thing," she recalled. "When it came to the most violent scenes, my parents would send me to the kitchen to make tea. The Mad Max series was very popular in South Africa, where I grew up, everyone watched them. Our culture is very similar to that of the Australians, we love post-apocalyptic films."

Mad Max: Fury Road also stars Nicholas Hoult as the crazy Nux and is in cinemas now.