Miller Doesn’t Rule Out Another ‘Mad Max’
The filmmaker is waiting to see how the latest film plays before deciding if another pricey trip to the Waste Land is in store.
The dust was just beginning to settle and the smell of guzzolene was still in the air after Wednesday night’s premiere of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. But after more than a decade of development and a grueling shoot, the work was not done for filmmaker George Miller and stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, who faced the press during a lively conference to discuss the long journey to their Fury Road prequel.
Australian filmmaker Miller has now made five Mad Max films over 45 years, but none have been as anticipated as Furiosa. That’s thanks to the pedigree of Fury Road, Miller’s 2015 film that introduced the world to Imperator Furiosa, played in that feature by Charlize Theron. It is considered one of the greatest action movies of all time and became a surprise awards season juggernaut that won six Oscars.
“There are certainly other stories there. Mainly because in order to tell the story of Fury Road, we had to know the backstory of Furiosa and Max in the year before,” said Miller when asked if he has more Mad Max movies left in the tank. “That was a tool for the cast and crew. We know the Max story from the year before. I’ll definitely wait to see how this [Furiosa] goes, before we even think about it.”
The reception has been promising. On Wednesday night, Furiosa received a seven-minute standing ovation, one that potentially could have lasted longer as Miller took the microphone to speak, which had the unintended effect of silencing the applause.
At the press conference Thursday, Miller noted that in the early days of Mad Max, international distributors always get the apocalyptic tale populated with Australian voices.
When 1979’s Mad Max came to the U.S., it was dubbed over with American accents.
“The film completely flopped in America,” said Miller, who with Furiosa finally has a Mad Max film featuring almost all Australian accents, even if he was doubtful British actor Tom Burke, who plays an ally of Furiosa’s, could pull off the famously challenging accent.
The filmmaker acknowledged he never imagined he’d keep going with the franchise this long. “If you are just repeating what you’ve done, there’s no appetite to do that,” Miller said of trying to make each film different.
“I’ve often wondered, ‘Am I crazy?’ Then I realize I’m driven by my curiosity. I feel that I’m learning.”
Hemsworth discussed crafting his villain Dementus with Miller. “It was important to George and I to find the humanity in the character and sprinkle in moments of vulnerability and understand he was a product of the Waste Land and had suffered tremendously,” said Hemsworth of the Biker Horde leader.
After Furiosa‘s Cannes premiere, it landed with a strong 86 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The real test for Furiosa will be at the box office, when the $168 million Warner Bros. feature arrives May 22.
As for Miller, who recalled growing up crafting stories of medieval knights with his brothers using trash can lids as shields, he plans to keep doing what he’s always done: treat the act of creation like a child at play would.
