The Herald Sun (via Movie Web) is claiming that Warner Bros. and writer-director George Miller are quietly gearing-up to shoot a new Mad Max movie in Australia soon, possibly later this year.
“Pre-production is gearing up on the multi-million-dollar action-packed Warner Bros franchise, with NSW’s Broken Hill Studios Miller’s first choice for shooting, which could start as soon as later this year.”
It’s said to be prequel that will focus on both Max and Furiosa’s backstory. If true, it’s unlikely that the two would have scenes together. There had been talk of friction during production between Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. Separating their characters is a good way for a warmer set environment. Then again, a sequel could equally give the two characters their own narratives.
George Miller has admittedly written two scripts for sequels with one apparently ready to go.
Mad Max: Fury Road earned massive critical success with it’s ten Oscar nominations and six wins. It’s box office wasn’t a huge win for the studio, but the film continues to perform very well on Blu-Ray/DVD. There’s a big demand for sequels and we had assumed that Warner Bros. has been begging Miller to fast track more films. There is some thought that the sequels will do much much better at the box office when released.
Miller has confirmed talks with the studio about in-development projects like Man of Steel 2 (Green Lantern Corps. rumored too) and Akira. It doesn’t look like there’s currently any movement with him behind them though, even with talk of Man of Steel 2 development.
The director had stated that he was going to take a break before jumping back into his planned sequels, giving us the impression he would tackle a smaller film first.
It’s easy to say George Miller could be free to make this Mad Max prequel as he hasn’t announced any plans, but what about the two notoriously busy leads?
Tom Hardy hasn’t signed-up for any new projects since recently wrapping production on Christopher Nolan’s WWII film Dunkirk. It’s possible he could be free to shoot the film with his schedule seemingly being open at the moment.
Charlize Theron on the other hand has a couple of commitments that includes Tully from director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. It’s said the film would begin production during late summer in Vancouver.
Marlo (Theron), a mother of three including a newborn, who is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant to the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully.
Theron is also attached for Sony’s spy film The Gray Man (former Brad Pitt project). Our last update on the project was back in December, when the script was getting rewrites. Considering the Russo Brothers are said to be directing, production won’t begin until they’ve completed work on Avengers: Infinity War and the untitled Avengers 4.
This potentially gives Theron room in her schedule as well if Tully is a quick shoot.
Not to say this is concrete, but the actors seemingly being this available might speak volumes to an unknown length of a production shoot. Similar to what happened with Fury Road.
What do we know about the relationship between Miller and Broken Hill Studios?
Broken Hill Studios was originally going to be the shooting location of Fury Road until unseasonal rain turned the desert terrain into something more flourishing than you’d expect for a wasteland setting. Production was instead moved to Namibia and since then the studio has been struggling.
At the time it was transformed, the studio was being prepared for the filming of Mad Max 4, the multi-million dollar blockbuster released earlier this year. Kennedy Miller Mitchell, the company behind the series, even signed a year-long lease on the studio.
But a bittersweet splash of rain over the region and resulting desert flourish meant the location was deemed too green for the post-apocalyptic world, and filming was moved to the deserts of Namibia. That was a blow for Broken Hill, and for the businesses and accommodation that were to support the film.
But most of all, it was a blow to the film studio.
Photos of Broken Hill Studios and it’s surrounding location do give off a Mad Max vibe, which is good considering Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior was shot in the area in 1981. It’s very likely Miller heard that the studio was in trouble and was looking to find a way to make it up to them for pulling Fury Road out of Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4TdPxOXuYw
Warner Bros. tends to make this sort of stuff known, so if it’s legit we’ll likely hear something about it officially soon.
The original story itself is now locked behind the Herald Sun’s pay-wall. When it comes to a tabloid pay-wall, I have some sneaking suspicion that some stories might be posted as bait for new paid subscriptions and might not be as truthful as we think.
However, local papers would indeed get an inside scoop on upcoming Australia productions, not unlike the UK papers having an edge on Hollywood trades when it comes to UK productions like Bond and sometimes Star Wars.
At this point it’s a big rumor and we’ll try to keep expectations reserved for the moment.
SOURCE: THE HERALD SUN