Charlize Theron is set to star in the new Mad Max movie.

The actress has signed on to appear in the fourth instalment of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick, according to US reports.

Also joining the cast of Mad Max: Fury Road is British actor Tom Hardy.

The flick is set to start filming in Australia next August.

It is not known if Mel Gibson – who found fame in the original 1979 film – will appear in the sequel.

The last Mad Max film, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, was released in 1985.

The trilogy is set in a dystopian future world ruled by violent gangs.

Hollywood actress Charlize Theron has revealed pal Jeremy Renner calls her by the nickname “a**-nuts”.

Theron, 34, told how Renner, 38, came up with the nickname while they were shooting 2005 flick North Country.

The cast went out for drinks, and Theron said: “I can’t tell you what transpired, but lemme just say I found a friend for life in Jeremy, and he has ever since then referred to me as… A**-Nuts.

“I wish that was a joke, but it’s true!”

Theron recently auctioned off a 20-second kiss to a woman at a charity event for $140,000.

Oscar-winner Theron has reportedly dropped out of The Tourist and the Tomb Raider star has now been linked to the role.

Fresh off an action-heavy part in Salt, and with apparently no commitments in the near future, Jolie would fit in well to the project.

A remake of a French thriller, the film centres on an American tourist who, on behalf of Interpol, goes undercover to entrap a former lover who is a suspected global criminal.

Her role would be one-part seductress and one-part action, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She will star alongside Terminator: Salvation’s Sam Worthington.

The project, which originally had Tom Cruise set as the male lead, is also seeking a new director after Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Helmer Bharat Nalluri dropped out.

The film up to now had been set for an early 2010 release.