In Mad Max Fury Road plays the loner Max Rockatansky, the same role in a trilogy about 35 years ago made the fortune of Mel Gibson. Did you get his blessing?

He called me and was very friendly. But, let me clarify, I actually stole his job … This film was to be done in 2003, and then it would have been him. Because of lot of financial problems, geographical, meteorological, even war (Gulf) it’s been continually postponed and eventually Mel decided he was too old. Frankly, I nearly was too: I signed on in 2009, filmed in 2012, did reshoots in 2013. Now at last I’ve seen it and we are in 2015.

If you could choose an item which has stuck in the memory of the original Mad Max?

The leather jacket of Mel, and of course the V8, the super rigged car called Interceptor.

When calling you ‘the best actor of his generation’ what do you think?

Damn, what happened to Leonardo Dicaprio? Does he really not count? I understand, he’s already passed the fateful barrier of 40 years, just like Christian Bale! I, on the other hand, at almost 38 is just a kid …

Are you a movie buff?

I’m inattentive and lazy. My human Wikipedia is Noomi Rapace, since we shot both The Drop and Child 44 together.  She meets my every question with resignation: 'Yes, he is famous. You know the Godfather? Here, he is the director.’

How would you define success?

The fart of a fly.

In Mad Max you play a hero, but in The Revenant you’re once again a villain, like Bane, the archenemy of Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. What roles do you prefer?

In reality I’m not that analytical. When I accept a part, I go by instinct, but most of all I don’t want to repeat myself.

It is said that you don’t even read the script.

I prefer to get someone to tell it to me. I read that of The Revenant because Dicaprio forced me. It was he, with whom I had worked in Inception, who suggested me to Iñarritu.

Did you like it?

I read half and hastened to accept the part. Let’s face it, only a crazy actor would not trust a suggestion from Dicaprio and a director like Iñarritu.

But it is true in Mad Max there was no real script?

Well, there were 3,500 storyboard drawings, all the scenes described as a super bubble. In the film there is little dialogue: So, who cares about the script.

The rumors from the set say that you had a little problem with Charlize Theron. Possible? And what about your reputation for toughness?

First of all, she is taller than me. And then she, in the role of Emperess Furiousa, and his tribe of five wives, all models, young and beautiful, doesn’t make them go through poor Mad Max. But jokes aside, Charlize is a great actress and a super professional . It is me who can be difficult, because sometimes I stay in character even off the set.

Did you have to do dangerous stunts?

For those which were impossible there was a professional, Jacob Tomuri, who’s also in my other two movies, Legend and The Revenant. He looks so much like me that we are taken for brothers; the only difference is the accent, he is a New Zealander. Otherwise I managed myself, like when I had to take a leap of a few meters from a vehicle that went at 40 kilometers per hour. The worrying thing was that director George Miller wanted the effect of Wile E Coyote, the cartoon character which is constantly smashed but then keeps chasing the enemy Beep Beep.

Does he have other extreme roles planned?

Well, I’m going to play Elton John in the musical biopic Rocketman. A little extreme, no?

Then you know how to sing …

As a young man I did a bit of rap, and deep down, there are always songs. I practice doing the singing taxi driver in the film London Road, based on a stage musical in London.