For years, when talking about the process of creating “Mad Max: Fury Road,” director George Miller would often talk about how the scripting stage was actually devoid of, well, writing. In fact, the common anecdote surrounding the production of ‘Fury Road’ is that Miller and the rest of his collaborators worked without a script and, instead, utilized thousands of storyboard drawings to shape the plot and action of the epic, Oscar-winning film. Well, Brendan McCarthy takes issue with that assertion and would like to set the record straight.
For those not aware, McCarthy is a well-respected, film and TV veteran who has worked in the art department for a number of projects including the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film, “Highlander II: The Quickening,” the TV series “ReBoot,” and yes, “Mad Max: Fury Road.” But for ‘Fury Road,’ even though he’s listed as a co-writer, the artist takes umbrage with the idea that he didn’t actually write a script and instead was given the credit because of his art.
With the recent announcement that “Furiosa,” a “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel, now has its cast and is expected to begin production in 2021, McCarthy took to Twitter to set the record straight about George Miller’s film, once and for all.
“Yup, this is the Mad Max room where I wrote and designed ‘Fury Road’ circa late ‘90s,” wrote McCarthy, responding to a tweet that shows a now-famous image of a conference room littered with storyboard illustrations. “What’s annoying about the text here, is the continuation of the made-up bollocks that there wasn’t a script.”
He continued, I still have a copy of the first draft. George is a showman who is ‘creative’ with reality and put out the story that there wasn’t any script. After I reminded him last time we met, he now refers to a ‘written document’ in interviews… The final screenplay was put together after the storyboards wrapped up. I also did a design pass on the whole movie as we wrote it. The production designer (who got an Oscar) who was hired some years after I finished up, has never mentioned this. About 50% of the design of the final movie was by me!”
To further back up his claims about there actually being a script for the film before shooting began, McCarthy posted a page from the document, with a date printed on top of it reading “30/7/1999,” meaning the draft was updated on July, 30, 1999, well before the film would go into production.
Sure, the cinephile in me wants to believe the incredible story of a masterfully crafted film that was so focused on look, tone, and action that a script was an afterthought. And if there was ever a film to believe was working with no script, ‘Fury Road’ would be it. But clearly, McCarthy is trying to put the facts out there, and alongside George Miller, he’s definitely the guy who would know best.
READ MORE: George Miller Confirms ‘Mad Max: Furiosa’ Prequel Is Next, But Charlize Theron Won’t Star
For those worrying about the script for “Furiosa,” don’t fret. The recent report claimed that Miller is co-writing the script with Nick Lathouris, who is also listed as a writer on ‘Fury Road.’
If you’re curious about the mythology of ‘Fury Road’ and how it had “no script,” you can watch the video below:
