It’s hard to believe that it’s been over two years since we first got confirmation on a new MAD MAX project. Titled FURY ROAD, the flick was meant to be shot back-to-back with another MAD MAX film, FURIOSA. Casting went down relatively smoothly (Tom Hardy as the title character, Charlize Theron as the female lead), and it really looked for all the world like we were going to be road-trippin’ with Max sometime in 2013.
Unfortunately, for director George Miller and for us action junkies, budget concerns and heavy rainfall in Australia put a seemingly indefinite hold on the production of FURY ROAD. While Miller toiled over HAPPY FEET 2 – which opened here recently to very meager box office results – the world wondered if we’d ever get to see Mad Max fight another day.
The good news is that the answer seems to be “yes”. In fact, Miller is committed to bringing a new trilogy of MAD MAX flicks to realization soon, as he explained in a very interesting Australian Financial Review article.
“We started with [Fury Road], but we then started to do a second story and a third,” he says. “We’ve written the script for the second and almost finished the third. We never intended to, they were part of the exploration of the characters.”
In regards to the (first) film’s budget, Miller’s producer Doug Mitchell says “it’s confidential but it’s massive. Because the studio has so much money on the table, they did bravely step up their exposure. If you’re talking about a big film, an action film, find a budget that’s big and it’s that.”
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD will reportedly begin shooting in Nambia in April, with post-production in Australia to follow. Warner Bros. is still on board to produce and distribute, although a release date has yet to be set. Fingers crossed that it actually goes down this time!
Charlize Theron
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