Charlize Theron - not a real blonde?

Charlize Theron enjoys lunch with her mother in Cape Town during a break in filming. Picture: Splash News Source: Supplied

WHEN director David Fincher asked Sigourney Weaver how she felt about going bald for Alien 3, she joked: "Fine with me as long as I get more money."

You can imagine a similar conversation took place between Charlize Theron and director George Miller for Mad Max 4 because the star no longer has her flowing blonde locks.

In fact, as these pictures show, she's no longer a blonde.

Theron shaved her head to play the role of Furiosa in the latest instalment of Miller's post-apocalyptic saga, which is currently filming in Namibia.

The South African actress showed off her dark roots, andsome blotchy skin,as she had lunch with her mother, Gerda, in Cape Town.

Despite the radical look, which has many thinking she's been hitting the dye bottle, she was still mobbed by fans.

The actress is no stranger to altering her appearance for roles - she was almost unrecognisable in Monster, the film that got her an Oscar - but going bald is a bold move, especially for mainstream Hollywood fare.

No hiding: Theron poses with fans after they spotted her at the restaurant. Picture: Splash News

Filming of Mad Max 4: Fury Road began in June, but without Mel Gibson. Dark Knight Rises star Tom Hardy has been cast as "Mad" Max Rockatansky, the role that made Gibson a star.

Hardy and Theron were first attached to the film in 2009 but it was postponed after a number of production setbacks. "It's been three years. It's time to skin this cat already," Theron sa! id recently.

"The original Mad Max created such a vivid world, so to go back and re-imagine it and re-play in that sandbox sounds like fun to me. It's a really challenging piece of material... I feel very lucky."

Lucky indeed. Last year it looked as if Miller's long-planned sequel would never get to the screen.

The director, whose projects have a habit of falling at the last hurdle (his cancelled Justice League film is now cautionary tale), had planned to shoot the film in Broken Hill last year but had to abandon his plans after rainfall turned the required desert landscape green.

Miller, who lobbied hard to keep the film in Australia, was forced to shift production to Namibia.

Theron's rough look for Mad Max is a world away from how she appeared on the red carpet six months ago. Pictures: Splash News / AP

Ironically, Miller had originally planned to shoot the film there in 2003, but the production ran into complications. That version of the film was to have starred Gibson but Miller thought he was too old to do the part when the film was revived in 2009.

But the $100 million film is still beset with problems.

According to studio sources quoted in the Hollywood Reporter, the film has "veered off schedule and is running over budget".

Last month Warner Bros, which is financing the film, sent out a "studio representative" to keep the production on track.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Miller "regularly goes over budget on his movies, and Warners ran into cost issues with Happy Feet 2, which barely was finished in time for its release date".

The original Mad Max: Mel Gibson in Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome. Picture: Warne! r Bros