Much has been spoken of late about George Miller’s forthcoming ‘Mad Max’ reboot starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, but could the production, which is slated to begin in October, be set for a slight delay?
According to the well-read publication The Australian, lensing on the film is set to be postponed until February of next year. While no confirmation or denial could be sought from the office of the film’s production company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell, an official statement is apparently due this week.
The franchise rebooter will co-star the likes of Nicholas Hoult (“A Single Man”) as a character named Nux; Zoe Kravitz and Adelaide Clemens as part of a convoy chased by the antagonists; with Hardy and Theron leading as Max Rockatansky himself and an unnamed female lead. The latest rumors have also been throwing up the possibility of a back-to-back shoot on two films, titled “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Mad Max: Furiosa,” to be released “immediately” after each other. That has yet to be confirmed, but if true we’d imagine extra pre-production work would be necessary and a postponement on the start date?
Adding to the potential extra work that may have catalyzed the reported delay: Miller is also evidently “working on new 3D advancements to be used during the shoot” with rumors that he’ll be “building his own 3D rigs and cameras based on technology originally developed by Dalsa Corporation” on account of the technology’s current fragility and the film’s expected tough shoot in Broken Hill, Australia where temperatures consistently reach well over 40 °C (104 °F). This comes after star Hoult told the press earlier this year that a 3D conversion would be implemented for the film — could all the recent conjecture surrounding conversions have led Miller to decide to just shoot in the much-buzzed 3D format?
Whatever the motive, the director did add that this wasn’t his first venture into such technology and not even his first attempt to utilize it for a ‘Mad Max’ film. “We are doing 3D on Fury Road — we are shooting with real 3D cameras,” Miller told Inside Film. “Seven years ago we were going to shoot in 3D but the technology in cinemas wasn’t geared for it then but I always loved 3D or stereo.”
Seven years ago? Miller, then, is likely referring the last planned iteration of the franchise that was set to feature a return by Mel Gibson in a $105 million production that even had a July 23rd, 2004 release date readied. Shooting was all set to begin in Nambia before the impending invasion of Iraq, a mere 11 weeks from the production start date, prompted 20th Century Fox to postpone production — a move that Miller never recovered from leading him to begin work on the animated film, “Happy Feet.”
Miller wasn’t the first non-US citizen to be granted the Visual Effects Society’s honorary member status for no reason, and in this expansive world of cinematic technology, we imagine this ‘Mad Max’ reboot will be his chance to shine once again. Leaving no stone unturned, famed special effects company WETA also recently announced their involvement with the technologically ambitious production. Let’s just hope there’s some interesting story and characters somewhere in there though judging by Hardy’s own description of his character as “a hungry wolf. Or like when you put a cat in the bath,” we don’t imagine that to be a problem.
Also affected by the delay of the ‘Mad Max’ films? Development on a third ‘Babe’ film. Shame.