"They had pilgramaged to this place the desert, this ragtag band of hardened survivors.
Garbed in leathers and shoulder pads, armed to the teeth from some crude forge, assembled amongst their junkyard vehicles welded with mesh screen and armor plate, these most devoted followers of a vision of maelstrom and decay stood in front of a large screen to receive a long range transmission from the creators.
On the screen appeared three men standing in front of a huge custom build truck. One man spoke, “Greetings to everyone out there in The Wasteland, from Our Apocalypse, to Your Apocalypse, much Love.” The engine of the beastly vehicle howled to life and the assemblage of leathered bezerkers roared their delight and approval!"
The event was Wasteland Weekend 2010{1},an open air festival in the California desert celebrating the post-apocalyptic vision of the Mad Max franchise. The men in the video were director George Miller, the creator of the series, production designer Colin Gibson, and stunt coordinator Guy Norris. The message in the video was none less than that pre-production was underway for... Mad Max: Fury Road
After nearly a decade of rumors, false starts and setbacks, it finally seems that the troubled fourth installment of the Mad Max franchise will see the big screen, and is scheduled to be released sometime in 2012. {imdb}
{2}
According to Miller, many of the delays in producing this film are due to the size and complexity of the production. To the delight of Mad Max purists, Miller, Gibson and Norris plan to stay true to the live action stunts that were pioneered in the original film and the groundbreaking "The Roadwarrior". Miller explains, "It’s got just a huge number of stunts, and we're trying to do stuff that I believe people haven't done before". Colin Gibson offered that they’re building over a hundred vehicles, and that "Guy’s job is to wreck ‘em all". {3}
Filming is planned to take place in Sydney and Broken Hill, the site of previous Mad Max movies. The production budget is rumored to be $100 Million and is expected to create up to 500 jobs. This is a serious boon to the suffering Australian film industry. Miller, who is also producing the sequel to "Happy Feet" in 2011, hopes to stimulate the local film econonomy in the long term and create permanant opportunities for an Australian film making disporia. {4}
{5}
Controversy concerning the production of the film is eclipsed only by that of the casting for the lead role. Mel Gibson it seems will not reprise the role of Max Rockatansky. That role will likely be played by Tom Hardy, although Hardy and Miller have been annoyingly tight-lipped and ambiguous concerning the final casting of the film. Charlize Theron reportedly shall be cast as an antagonist named Imperator Furiosa. {6}
Fortunately, images of the real stars of the Mad Max series have begun to surface on the internet: The Vehicles. {7} Too many other details are up in the air, which I find maddening. Various sources indicate that a fifth (!?) film may be filmed concurrently with Fury Road, Fury Road will be shot in 3D, Fury Road will be filmed on the moon… too much, too much! Heavy rains postponed the production in 2010 and labor disputes have now postponed the filming until 2012.
What is more disheartening, this delay has left many major film crew members without work amid fears the high Australian dollar could ultimately kill the film {8}. I really hope this will not be the case. I have been waiting a long time for a worthy addition to the series and I just hope that the vehicles, the chases, the stunts and the action, will all live up to the hype. Those damn kids from "Beyond Thunderdome" better not be in the film either!
UPDATE July 28, 2014:
Filming has been reportedly completed for both Fury Road and its sucessor "Furiosa." Fury Road has a release date of May 15, 2015. Until then, you can watch the TRAILER!
{1} http://wastelandweekend.com/?p=521
{2} http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Mad-Max-Fury-Road-Delayed-Hopefully-Not-For-Good-21116.html
{3} http://www.madmaxmovies.com/mad-max-4-fury-road/current-news/index.html
{4} http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/10/29/2727833.htm
{5} http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/24/2723077.htm
{6} http://www.collider.com/2010/06/26/tom-hardy-interview-mad-max-fury-road-training-look-shooting-schedule-filming-george-miller/
{7} http://starcasm.net/archives/61621
{8} http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/mad-max-sequel-delayed-again/story-e6frg8pf-1225936195121
http://www.roadwarusa.com/