While much of the conversation following "Mad Max: Fury Road" has been about the status of the sequel (or sequels), let’s not forget about the film itself. While the heat of the summer has dissipated, it hasn’t cooled the fiery energy of ‘Fury Road’ which still stands as one of the best action movies of the year (if not the the last few years), and certainly raised the bar on what can be done within the parameters of a studio tentpole. While doing the last rounds of press for the movie, director George Miller has sat down for a spoiler-filled talk with Empire about all things ‘Fury Road.’
READ MORE: Charlize Theron Says She Isn’t Signed On For "Mad Max: Fury Road" Sequel
Though it’s been said before, it’s worth reiterating that no detail went unnoticed in the production of the movie. "Every prop, every weapon, every piece of costume, every gesture, every phrase had to have some backstory," Miller explained. "The Doof Warrior for instance – we knew exactly where his guitar came from. If you look at the guitar, there’s a hospital bedpan in the middle of it and we knew exactly where that came from. We also had to explain to ourselves how a man who couldn’t see and couldn’t speak could only play guitar. How did he survive in the wasteland and so on. That was one of the benefits of the many delays on the film."
As for Max, he’s not going to settle down with Furiosa. "I don’t think he’s ready yet: it’s only been three days since he was the trapped wild animal in the story. And I don’t think he’s ready yet for happy families. He’s given [the five wives] and [Furiosa] hope, and the world hope, but it’s not for him," the director said. "And in the classic sense of these guys he moves on, as the first history man said, in search of a better self. He just couldn’t stay. And initially in the very first storyboard draft he went up with them, but it just didn’t seem right. And I remember Tom Hardy and Charlize and everybody just said, ‘something’s wrong with Max’. Nico Lathouris (co-writer) said, ‘he just can’t go up there with them, he’s not ready yet. He hasn’t really earned it’. So off he goes."
The future for Furiosa is just as uncertain. "You look at history and yesterday’s hero is often today’s tyrant. You see that throughout almost all of history. And the cycle begins again when there is another disruptive force that comes along: a revolution, an evolution, a change. And once again it builds up to some sort of orthodoxy and becomes rigid and that cycle goes on and on and on through history," Miller stated. "Through corporations, through football teams, through film studios, through filmmakers, through families. It’s a very, very, very common story. So in my mind, I think Furiosa has probably got more going for her than Immortan Joe did when he started this place. Furiosa I think has probably got more bandwidth, more humanity in her and she’s probably got a bigger chance, but she could just as easily become a tyrant."
Listen to the full talk below, it’s definitely fascinating stuff if you’re a fan of the movie.