'Mad Max: Fury Road' Director George Miller's Thriller Wows with Spectacular Stunts
"Behind the Scenes" is a Latin Post feature series offering an inside look at Latino stars, films, and the everyday members of the entertainment industry
If you were able to look inside the mind of Oscar-winning director George Miller, the creator behind the "Mad Max" franchise, you would be blown away.
A master at his craft, Miller's imagination can transport you to a dreary yet high-octane, post-apocalyptic world. He brings you to the dark depths of an inferno where outlaws and rebels reign with their motorbikes and muscle cars, a place where despair resonates and the desire for ultimate power corrupts humankind. Yet at the same time, Miller revives you with the resiliency of the human spirit where one's instinct to survive, seek justice and care for others triumphs above all.
That's not all. He adds fierce female power fueled by Oscar winner Charlize Theron, a.k.a. Imperator Furiosa, who kicks some major butt as she ferociously drives the War Rig to her glory.
All of this can be seen as Miller's wild imagination comes to life in his fourth installment of the "Mad Max" franchise, "Mad Max: Fury Road," which hits theaters on May 15.
Latin Post spoke with Miller in an exclusive interview to get a feel for what it was like behind the scenes shooting action-packed stunts amid explosions, fireballs, sand storms and car flips in the middle of the Namibian desert for seven months.
"It's pretty wild and intense," Miller told Latin Post. "It's pretty hard work. We shot the film practical, in the institutional way -- real cars being wrecked, real people amongst the real desert. It's not a film in which we defy the laws of physics. ... It had to be done this way, it's not a green screen movie. So that's pretty arduous especially doing it in a very remote part of the world in Namibia, in Africa. It's like a great military exercise."
"We were shooting for 130 days and every one of those days was a big stunt day. Your biggest worry by far is making sure that nobody gets hurt, cast, crew and stunt performers," he explained. "That's one of those difficult things to make sure that we can do all of that and get all that intensity and spectacle without anyone being injured. We didn't end up with any serious injuries at all, no broken bones and that's the big thing."
One of Miller's top priorities was having the set be as authentic as possible, to set the mood and to truly capture the intensity of the road warriors.
"Going out there with all of the vehicles, all of the costumes and all of the weapons and so on, it felt very real walking onto the set, and that of course helps the performers, the actors, the stunt performers and everybody to make that world that much more convincing," he added.
"You're not really in a movie, you're in George's head," said Tom Hardy, who plays "Mad Max," a.k.a. Max Rockatansky.
If Miller were to put himself in "Mad Max: Fury Road," he has a definitive answer as to which vehicle would he drive -- the Gigahorse, or what he calls the "Cadillac on steroids."
"Only because it was just so awesome to even stand by ... the Gigahorse, the Immortan Joe's vehicle. It's a double Cadillac, one on top of the other. It's got those massive wheels, it's got the real V-16 engine that's two V-8 engines lined up and to stand by, let alone ride in it, the noise was amazing," he explained. "Of course it would be so for being the war and the wasteland, he's above all of his resources and his people. It's a kind of an extension of his wardrobe, so he is going to have the most awe-inspiring vehicle."
The War Rig driven by Imperator Furiosa (Theron) was also a major part of the film.
"It's like another character in the movie. It's on the screen most of the time and it's indeed our set because it's where all of the characters interact in the movie," he said. "It's like an ark, like Noah's Ark that carries this little pocket of humanity looking for something better."
There was also the presence of a heavy metal guitarist with flames shooting out from his electric guitar and road warriors beating large drums, playing during the chaos and mayhem of the road war.
"Before modern communication, there was always the music of war," he said. "It was usually a bugle player, a drummer or a bagpipe player. ... The guitarist was the equivalent of all of those musicians of the past."
Filming in the Namibian desert served as a perfect backdrop for the film. According to Miller, it never rained while they were shooting from the end of the winter and into the spring and summer. "It was very very cold in the mornings and when the sun rose it became hotter," he said. While he didn't use much CG, he pointed out that "the dust storm or the toxic storm" was created in CG.
An Australian native and a former ER doctor, Miller is also known for his family-friendly films "Happy Feet" and "Babe: Pig in the City," and the moving film "Lorenzo's Oil." He helped launch Mel Gibson's career with the first two "Mad Max" films. He pointed out that so much has changed in filmmaking since then.
"It took us a week to see our dailies. They had to be sent from the Outback to the city, Sidney, to be processed. Now I see them instantly," he said.
This time around, he added: "We were able to put the cameras anywhere. They were smaller and digital and they would run for 40 minutes before you had to change the chip. That was huge for safety." He also pointed out that if there was an explosion or a big impact, the cameraman had plenty of time to get away and do the stunt.
There was also a four-wheel-drive, all black camera-type vehicle with a crane controlled by "a brilliant driver and brilliant crane operator with toggle switches and a camera man."
"They were able to put that camera anywhere -- under the wheels, inches off of the ground through the window," he explained. "It was fantastic. It was like being in the middle of a real video game."
Bottom line: If you love action flicks, video games, or ever considered being a road warrior, then this film is for you!
In "Mad Max: Fury Road" Max Rockatansky returns to the world of the Road Warrior. "Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows."
Along with Hardy ("The Dark Knight Rises") and Theron ("Monster," "Prometheus"), the film also stars Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men: Days of Future Past") as Nux; Hugh Keays-Byrne ("Mad Max," "Sleeping Beauty") as Immortan Joe; and Nathan Jones ("Conan the Barbarian") as Rictus Erectus.
The cast is rounded out by Zoë Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee, Courtney Eaton, Josh Helman, Jennifer Hagan and singer/songwriter/performer iOTA. Well-known Australian actors include: John Howard and Richard Carter, supermodel Megan Gale, Angus Sampson, Joy Smithers, Gillian Jones, Melissa Jaffer and Melita Jurisic.
"It really is a re-imagination and you can enter it and experience something spectacular," said Theron. "Dramatizing a story that is in constant movement is very, very tricky, but to George, it's what he thrives in. ... George kind of created a world that would satisfy his fans but also a generation that might not know those movies."
Check out mastermind Miller in action during the filming of the fourth film in the "Mad Max" franchise history -- "Mad Max: Fury Road," which hits theaters on May 15, 2015. (Official trailer is also below).
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