14 DAY TRIAL // The first “Mad Max” film came out in 1979 and starred a very young Mel Gibson as the lead, a role that would catapult him to Hollywood royalty. Many decades later, writer and director George Miller is getting ready to revisit that universe, this time with actors Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron as headliners.
The first official photos from the film, which has been many years in the making, have finally been released. You will find them in the gallery below.
So far, we’ve seen only one blurry pic of Hardy in character, which somehow leaked online in December 2012, and countless photos of the vehicles that would appear in the film. This is the first time we have a better look at the action scenes, the cars and, last but not least, Charlize Theron’s take on Imperator Furiosa. Awesome name, isn’t it?
The latest edition of Entertainment Weekly includes all the photos in the gallery (and then some) but also an interview with Hardy and Miller, sampled in the preview online version.
For instance, we learn that Miller wanted to make this reboot in the spirit of the original and have it play out like one continuous case scene from start to finish. He says that the finished product has “few digital effects and even less dialogue,” so he’s probably achieved this goal.
“I wanted to tell a linear story – a chase that starts as the movie begins and continues for 110 minutes. In this crucible of very intense action, the characters are revealed,” Miller says.
Charlize plays commander Furiosa, who will join forces with Hardy’s road warrior Max Rockatansky. Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Nathan Jones, Riley Keough, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley also star, but you’ll probably have some trouble recognizing them underneath all that makeup and dirt.
Shooting took place in Namibia for what turned out to be 7 very grueling months. “It was mental in a brilliant way. You have no concrete, no coffee shops. We were in the middle of a sandpit,” Hardy recalls laughing.
It wasn’t all fun, though. “Mad Max: Fury Road” was initially supposed to come out in 2013 but went over budget and had to be pushed back. There was also a lot of talk about how the leads (Hardy and Theron) couldn’t see eye to eye, which was making everything very difficult for the entire staff. Hardy recently denied all these rumors, saying there was no other actress he’d rather work with than Charlize.
The film is now scheduled for release for May 2015 and, hopefully, whatever production issues plagued it will have been solved until then. From the photos, it looks amazing – especially if you’re fan of the original.
