Not A Prequel, Not A Sequel, What Exactly Is Mad Max: Fury Road?
A few weeks ago Charlize Theron let slip that the oft delayed Mad Max: Fury Road was slated to begin filming June 2nd. I don’t know if it actually started or not (hopefully we’ll hear something about that soon, but I doubt it, especially since in one recent interview she said she leaves for Namibia in “two and a half weeks”), but the Oscar-winning South African did reveal that Fury Road is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the George Miller’s original trilogy.
That begs the question, if it’s not a sequel, and it’s not a prequel, what exactly is it? From Theron’s description this sounds like a reworking—or reboot, or remake, or whatever the hell people are calling this sort of thing these days. Max will be there, obviously, but this isn’t going to be Mel Gibson’s Max.
“Tom Hardy will be playing Mad Max but this is not the Mad Max that we know from that [film],” Theron says. “Only Tom Hardy can do this Mad Max and my character is a brand new character as well.”
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a remake to me. It has been 27 years since Mad Max last appeared on screen in Beyond Thunderdome, and I’m curious to see what Miller, Hardy, Theron, and company have up their sleeves.
Theron says, “George (Miller, the director of the film) really created a female character that I’ve never read anything like. I mean, I’m scared shitless.” That’s a promising statement, but not nearly as promising as her response when asked about the violence in the film, “yeah, yeah, there’s some bad-ass violence in it.” That’s music to my ears.
