The fight in question, glimpsed in the movie’s trailer, sees Rodriguez’s character Letty and Theron’s nefarious Cipher awaken in a high-tech Frankenstein’s lap as they each lie on neighboring steel operating tables. They see each other, get to know each other, and immediately pounce on each other for violence. The wider context of the scene will need to be explored once the movie is released.
According to the Vanity Fair article, there was no director on set for this scene. Talented second unit directors may be available for action sequences or long, setup shots, while a principal director will typically be present for dialogue scenes and close-ups of actors. While this may seem unusual, Rodriguez chose to see it as an opportunity for punk violence. Why play with the net when you can roam free? It seems that he and Theron rehearsed so well, and they were both perfectly willing that they filmed the fight scenes themselves. Rodriguez even made a cute reference. The movie that won Theron the Academy Award for Best Actress. In his words:
“Can I tell you this – I don’t mean to be a pun, but Charlize is a monster. […] We shot our fight sequence without a director. Brother, hands down, drop the mic, we did it. We were there, we don’t need it [a director]let’s do this.”
This scene seems to have kept production relatively on schedule while Leterrier was recruited and stepped up. Rodriguez was careful while also praising Theron for her willingness to shoot and fight, “We kept that train running until Louie came along and took over. […] And [Charlize] excellent professional, sharp elbows, work ethic beyond.”