George Miller might be 74-years-old, but he very well might be more popular now than ever before. The filmmaker behind the ‘Mad Max’ franchise seems to have struck a chord culturally with ‘Fury Road,’ the 2015 film that many feel might be the very best action film of all time. And so, even though by this age, many folks are retiring and relaxing, Miller is busier than ever before, with multiple ‘Mad Max’ projects in the works, as well as a film with Tilda Swinton attached.
Speaking to IndieWire, Miller talked about the status of those projects, and why he’s “cautiously optimistic” about his “Darwinian struggle of the fittest” film with Swinton might get made. But before we get to that, there’s talk about those long-awaited ‘Fury Road’ follow-ups.
“There are two stories, both involving Mad Max, and also a Furiosa story,” revealed the filmmaker. “We’re still solving, we’ve got to play out the Warners thing, it seems to be pretty clear that it’s going to happen.”
If you’re confused by the “Warners thing,” the filmmaker has been involved with a legal battle over ‘Fury Road’ with the film’s studio, Warner Bros.
“It all started because of the chaos at Warner Bros. and not [now-former boss] Kevin Tsujihara, it was pre all that,” explained Miller. “He wasn’t the antagonist, because a lot of people didn’t know what was going on and were not prepared to make a definitive stand; everybody was running around fearful, it seems, through three regimes. It was hard to get anyone’s attention, so we went to litigation. The chaos has stabilized and it’s become extremely positive as the dust seems to have settled after [the AT&T merger].”
But as mentioned, regardless of the outcome of that legal battle, Miller isn’t resting on his laurels. He’s been moving forward on his already-announced romance epic that stars Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, titled “Three Thousand Years of Longing.”
“[‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ is] a story in various stages of writing that had to be put aside; it’s been around almost 10 years. We’re starting pre-production before the end of the year and shooting early next year,” said the director.
He added, “But I’ve been there too often when you announce movies are going to happen and then they fall away. It happened three times on ‘Fury Road,’ and eventually, we got the damn thing made. We’re just coming out of a meeting as we speak, and we’re well into pre-production on this one. I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s going well.”
So, for those concerned that Miller’s future was looking bleak, considering he hasn’t had a film since 2015’s ‘Fury Road,’ don’t worry. Miller’s been working hard and it seems like the future holds multiple projects from the legendary filmmaker.