Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Miller
Produced by	Doug Mitchell George Miller P. J. Voeten
Written by	George Miller Brendan McCarthy Nico Lathouris
Starring	Tom Hardy Charlize Theron Nicholas Hoult Hugh Keays-Byrne Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Riley Keough Zoë Kravitz Abbey Lee Courtney Eaton
Music by	Junkie XL
Cinematography	John Seale
Edited by	Margaret Sixel
Production company	Kennedy Miller Mitchell Village Roadshow Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	14 May 2015 (2015-05-14) (Cannes) 15 May 2015 (2015-05-15) (United States)
Running time	120 minutes[1]
Country	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$150 million[2]

Mad Max: Fury Road is an upcoming post-apocalyptic action film directed, produced and co-written by George Miller, and the fourth film of Miller's Mad Max franchise. The first film of the franchise in 30 years, Fury Road is also the first Mad Max film not to feature Mel Gibson as "Mad" Max Rockatansky, with Tom Hardy replacing him. It also stars Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa.

The film will have its world premiere on 14 May 2015 at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in an out of competition screening, followed by a wide theatrical release on 15 May 2015.

Premise

Several years after a series of catastrophic worldwide calamities, Max (Tom Hardy), a former highway patrolman, meets Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman attempting to cross an immense desert.^[3] With her are five former female captives of the tyrannical Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his bloodthirsty gang. Their only hope of reaching safety is Max and his expansive knowledge of the desert's many dangers. When Max is captured by Joe, his only chance of escape depends on Furiosa and her colleagues, each of whom is considered a precious object vital to the continued survival of the human race.^[4]

Cast

Production

Development

Plans for the fourth film of the Mad Max series hit financial difficulties and the project spent around 25 years in "development hell".^[5] George Miller announced in 2003 that a script had been written for a fourth film, and that pre-production was in the early stages.^[6] Although the project was given the green light for a US$100 million budget to begin filming in Australia in May 2003, Mad Max 4 entered hiatus due to security concerns related to trying to film in Namibia because the United States and many other countries had tightened travel and shipping restrictions.^[7] With the outbreak of the Iraq War, Mad Max 4 was abandoned as it was considered a potentially politically sensitive film. Although Mel Gibson had been cast to return as Max, he lost interest after production was cancelled.^[7]

Director George Miller announced in 2003 that a script had been written for a fourth film, and that pre-production was in the early stages.

In November 2006, Miller stated that he intended to make Fury Road, and considered doing the film without Gibson: "There's a real hope. The last thing I wanted to do is another Mad Max, but this script came along, and I'm completely carried away with it."^[8][9] The film's screenplay was co-written with cult British comic creator Brendan McCarthy, who also designed many of the new characters and vehicles.^[10] Miller again confirmed his intention to make another Mad Max at the 2007 Aurora film maker initiative. However, he stated that he thought Mel Gibson would not be interested in the film because of his age.^[11][12] On 5 March 2009, it was announced that an R-rated 3D animated feature film was in pre-production and would be taking much of the plot from Fury Road,^[13] although Mel Gibson would not be in the film and Miller was looking for a "different route", a "renaissance" of the franchise.^[13] Miller cited the film Akira as an inspiration for what he wanted to do with the franchise. George Miller was also developing an action-adventure tie-in video game based on the fourth film, along with God of War II video game designer Cory Barlog. Both projects were expected to take two to two-and-a-half years, according to Miller, with a release date of either 2011 or 2012. The Fury Road film was going to be produced at Dr.D Studios, a digital art studios founded in 2008 by George Miller and Doug Mitchell.^[13]

On 18 May 2009, it was reported that location scouting was underway for Mad Max 4.^[14] After exploring the possibility of an animated 3D film, George Miller decided instead to shoot a 3D live action film, and at this point plans to make the animated film were immediately dropped, and by May 2009, location scouting for the Mad Max sequel had begun.^[14] An Australian press said in May 2009: "MAD [sic] Max is revving up for a long-awaited return to the big screen, almost 25 years after Tina Turner ran Mel Gibson out of Bartertown. Director George Miller is gearing up to shoot the fourth film in the ground-breaking Aussie road warrior franchise, industry sources say. Scouting for locations is under way for the movie, which many thought would never get off the ground. It could go into production later this year."^[15]

In October 2009, Miller announced that that filming of Fury Road would commence at Broken Hill, New South Wales in early 2011, ending years of speculation.^[16] This announcement attracted widespread media attention in Australia, with speculation at that time on whether Mel Gibson would return as Max.^[17] That same month, British actor Tom Hardy was in negotiations to take the lead role of Max, while it was also announced that Charlize Theron would also play a major role in the film.^[18] In June 2010, Hardy announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that he would play the title role in a new version of Mad Max.^[19] In July 2010, Miller announced plans to shoot two Mad Max films back-to-back, entitled Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Max: Furiosa.^[20] In November 2011, filming was moved from Broken Hill to Namibia, after unexpected heavy rains turned the desert there into a lush landscape of wildflowers, inappropriate for the look of the movie.^[21]

In a July 2014 interview at Comic-Con, Miller said he designed the film in storyboard form before writing the screenplay, working with five storyboard artists. It came out as about 3,500 panels, almost the same number of shots as in the finished film. He wanted the film to be almost a continuous chase, with relatively little dialogue, and to have the visuals come first.^[22] Paraphrasing Hitchcock, Miller said that he wanted the film to be understood in Japan without the use of subtitles.^[23]

Filming

Principal photography began in July 2012 in Namibia.^[24] In October 2012, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Warner Bros. sent an executive to keep the production on track.^[25] The filming wrapped on 17 December 2012.^[26] In February 2013, a leaked draft from the Namibian Coast Conservation and Management group accused the producers of damaging parts of the Namib Desert, endangering a number of plant and animal species.^[27][28] However, the Namibia Film Commission said it had "no reservations" after visiting the set during production. It disputed claims reported in the media, calling the accusations "unjust rhetoric".^[29]

Cinematographer John Seale, who came out of retirement to shoot Fury Road,^[30] outfitted his camera crew with six Arri Alexas, as well as a number of Canon EOS 5Ds that were used as crash cams for the action sequences.^[31]

In September 2013, it was announced that the film would undergo reshoots in November 2013.^[32] In July 2014, director George Miller described the film as "a very simple allegory, almost a western on wheels".^[33] Miller claimed that 90% of the effects were practical.^[34]

Music

The musical score for Mad Max: Fury Road was composed by Junkie XL.^[35] Prior to Junkie XL's involvement, John Powell and Marco Beltrami were attached at separate times to score the film.^[36][37] After hearing Junkie XL's score for 300: Rise of an Empire,^[38] Miller met with the composer in Sydney. "I got very inspired and started writing pieces of music for scenes," said Junkie XL. "The initial main themes were written in the four weeks after that first meeting and those themes never changed."^[39] A soundtrack album is scheduled to be released by WaterTower Music on 12 May 2015.^[40]

Release

The film will have its world premiere on 14 May 2015 at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in an out of competition screening,^[41] and will be released in theaters on 15 May 2015.^[42] Beginning 20 May 2015, Vertigo will release three comic book prequels, one per month, that detail the backstory for a character in the film. A hardcover collection of art inspired by the film will be released 6 May 2015.^[43]

Sequels

Back in 2012, Miller said that he originally wanted to shoot Fury Road along with its intended sequel, Mad Max: Furiosa back to back, but Warner Bros. has since made no confirmation that there will be any more films in the franchise.^[44] In March 2015, during an interview with Esquire magazine, Hardy revealed that he was attached to star in three more Mad Max films following Mad Max: Fury Road.^[45]

References

External links

• Official website
• Mad Max: Fury Road at the Internet Movie Database
• Mad Max: Fury Road at Box Office Mojo
• Mad Max: Fury Road at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mad Max: Fury Road at Metacritic