It’s hard for most moviegoers to imagine how difficult it is to make and deliver such a film as George Miller’s mesmerizing masterpiece (even without CGI) “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Seeing the final product, polished to perfection regarding every tiny detail, you don’t necessarily consider the difficulty and precision that go into each set piece, and the vision and expertise that it requires to make them look and feel like a comprehensive epic on the big screen. Miller, a filmmaker with five decades of experience, knows how to make that happen. But during the actual process, that doesn’t always seem obvious, even for the actors who play a key role in it.
Tom Hardy (who starred in an obscure sci-fi with Kelly Reilly early in his career) was one of those who just couldn’t see or appreciate the brilliance that it took Miller to execute his vision at the time. He was frustrated and doubtful while filming, but during a 2015 press conference at Cannes (via Variety), he publicly apologized to Miller for “being myopic” after seeing the feature for the first time.
He explained, “The most frustrating thing for me or the hardest part [of filming] was trying to know what George wanted me to do at any given minute on a minute-by-minute basis, so I could fully [execute] his vision. I got frustrated, and there is no way that George could have explained what he conceived in the sand while we were out there. Because of the due diligence that was required to make everything that was incredibly complex so simple — which is what I saw — which is a relentless barrage of complexities simplified in a fairly linear story… I knew [Miller] was brilliant, but I didn’t know how brilliant until I saw it.”
The kind of action movie that Fury Road became doesn’t come around very often
Of course, in retrospect, Tom Hardy saw what everyone saw: a blistering, grand-scale action flick with riveting pace and rhythm, amplified by terrific performances all around. That would be an impressive accomplishment in and of itself, but it being a new installment in an already-existing franchise, yet still hitting harder than anything else before it, is something else entirely. It shows that George Miller’s devotion and relentlessness in making this movie despite the development hell it’s been sitting in for decades, not only didn’t lessen but actually fueled him to prove that he still got it.
The idea of a single chase that essentially became “Mad Max: Fury Road” was conceived in the late ’80s after the third movie, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Initially, the director wanted to make it with the original star, Mel Gibson, but by the time he actually had the chance, Gibson was already out of the picture. The movie’s production was hell, including the constant clashing between the leads, Hardy and Charlize Theron, the harsh conditions of shooting in the Namibian desert, and the extensive reshoots that took place in Australia… just to name a few.
At one point, Miller even said he’ll never make another “Mad Max” movie (thankfully, that didn’t become prophecy). For all its struggles, it’s a miracle that “Mad Max: Fury Road” was not only made but turned into a phenomenal spectacle of action cinema — although it wasn’t Miller’s dream version. The actioner blew up the box office (making over $380 million against its $150 million budget), became a critical darling, won six Oscars, and made both fans and new viewers of the franchise rejoice like never before. Hardy likely won’t doubt the process again.
