The Future Belongs to the Mad

'Fury Road was made off the back of a penguin.'

  James Nicholas 

James Nicholas was Fury Road director George Miller assistant, and provided some of my favorite quotes in Kyle Buchanan's book, Blood, Sweat & Chrome.   If you don't know Miller's name, I'm sure  you know his work.  In addition to writing, producing and directing the first three films in the Mad Max franchise, Miller also directed; The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo's Oil, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two.

It was actually Happy Feet Two that in some ways was responsible for Mad Max: Fury Road  being made at all.   Miller originally came up with the concept for the film in the late 80's, but it took until 2012 to finally get the film made.  In the meantime, it went through hundreds of changes, through the  hands of many multiple creatives, and was started and stopped at least twice, once, just as filming was about to begin.

Originally Miller wanted Mel Gibson back as Max, but with the passage of time, not to mention Gibson's personal and public struggles,  Miller realize the actor was no longer the right actor to step again into Max's shoes.  A casting hunt began with many other actors considered.  At one point, Miller considered casting both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who he thought would be perfect for the film.

In the end, the role of Max was narrowed down to Jeremy Renner, Armie Hammer and the actor who eventually took on the role, Tom Hardy.  Tom had years of critical and box office success in Europe, but it wasn't until Bronson, in 2008, that he was considered an actor who could take the lead of a mainstream box office hit.

After receiving Buchanan's ok from Amazon this past summer, each evening after dinner, I took the book and sat on my porch reading each page and each chapter both quickly and slowly.  I went through the book fast, but kept stopping to re-read certain portions, especially about the process of getting the actors ready for their roles.  Then, later that night, I would re-watch all, or parts of the film that I had been reading about.  Buchanan had me wanting to closely re-watch scenes that were discussed by the actors and creators in such detail within the book.

Although the film is really one long road picture, it's divided into several distinct sections.  It begins with Max's capture, and then moves on to my favorite part of the film, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and the wives, escaping from the Citadel and from Immortan Joe.  The chase is on and really ups the intensity once Max and Furiosa  meet.  The remainder of the film is Max, Furiosa, Nux (Nicholas Hoult) and the wives on the run from Joe and cult of followers. 

Although most may have thought of Mad Max films as created for male audiences, Fury Road is at it's core, a feminist celebration.  There are no stereotyped female characters with Furiosa, the wives, and the fantastic 'Many Mothers' leading the battle to take down Joe and take back their home and lives in the Citadel.  

Although I love all of the women from Fury Road, this is FH, so it's the men that I'm featuring in the next few posts.  Check out more below as well as my Actors & Skin feature on star Tom Hardy on the NEXT PAGE HERE: