Before Inception debuted to widespread success and before
being cast as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy was chosen to lead the
return of the Mad Max franchise. That was back in 2009 and since then, despite
filling out most of its cast, Mad Max: Fury Road has been unable to get its
tires spinning.
George Miller, the man who directed Mel Gibson’s Mad Max
trilogy, has been working on making Mad Max 4 for a very long time. When Hardy
was announced as Gibson’s replacement, Miller had already been pushing the
project for a decade and after waiting that long, what did we get? Two more
years of delays! Finally, it appears that Mad Max: Fury Road is on its way, to
begin shooting early next year.
In a chat with The Daily Telagraph, George Miller spoke of
the production (or lack thereof) and status of Mad Max 4, revealing that
everything’s “ready to go” and that it’s now just a waiting game.
“We’ve built the vehicles. We’ve designed the movie. The
principal cast is locked in. The film is funded. It’s all ready to go. We just
wait.”
Wait for what, you ask? The film was supposed to start
shooting at the beginning of this year in Broken Hill, Australia, but a
drought-ending flash flood at this key location put a damper on that. Because
it was too damp, get it? Since then, some speculation was as extreme as
pointing towards the project possibly falling apart due to budget concerns with
the delays. That and Australia has become more expensive to shoot in (see:
Green Lantern).
Warner Bros. and Miller agreed to a full 12-month delay so
he could continue work on Happy Feet 2 but he’s certainly not shy about the
frustrations of making this movie a reality.
“All the contracts are signed. It’s a locked-in film. It has
been for 18 months now… We will restart pre-production later this year and
begin early next year — weather permitting.”
Now that Tom Hardy has established himself as a go-to actor
and recognizable star for mainstream moviegoers, Miller and Warner Bros. may
benefit from the delays in the end with Mad Max: Fury Road becoming an even
more bankable film at the box office. Joining Hardy in the cast will be
Charlize Theron, Nicolas Hoult and Zoë Kravitz. Teresa Palmer, attached to the
project prior to the delay, is not 100% locked (so she says).
We don’t know when Mad Max: Fury Road will hit theaters but
it will be shot in 3D.
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