There’s a little bit of movement happening on George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the 4th installment in the “Road Warrior” saga that will be Mel Gibson-less when it finally shoots.
Or at least there’s movement in the sense that actors who are part of the film have been interviewed lately providing some updates. Aussie actress Theresa Palmer recently admitted she had to drop out of the picture because of a scheduling conflict and now “Inception” star Tom Hardy has been talking about the picture when asked about it during the recent junkets for Christopher Nolan’s new film. [via Collider/ First Showing/Coming Soon]
A few things seem to be clear. 1) The film is probably not shooting this August as rumored a few months ago by the sounds of Hardy’s comments. 2) We weren’t really sure if Hardy was going to play Mel Gibson’s character or simply another character in that post-apocalyptic world, and we initially doubted he would, but it sounds like not only is he embodying the Mad Max character, the film will be a reboot of sorts.
“It’s a relaunch and revisit to the world. An entire restructuring. That’s not to say that it’s not picking up or leaving off from the Mad Max you know already, but it’s a nice re-take on the entire world using the same character, depositing him in the same world but bringing him up to date by 30 years.”
“I’m rather, obviously, limited to what I can say. These things are always binded to secrecy and I think that’s a good thing for the film anyway. I’m not allowed to give away anything. Without incriminating myself in any way, it’s a very big film. To step into the shoes of Mel Gibson. George [Miller] and Mel created the franchise Mad Max, which started off as an independent which then blew up. It took off. It became the Mad Max as we know it with t-shirts and DVDs…
There were many, many actors that would probably be right for Mad Max and there’s plenty out there who could probably do an exceptional job to portray him. It’s especially a challenge to step in the shoes of such an iconic character. So obviously I’m aware that I’m going to take a certain level of casualties when I go in and play him. If I concentrate on that, then it’s obviously not going to be the best thing for the project.”
When will the film shoot? “I can’t say when I’m going to be in front of the cameras,” Hardy said noting that he’ll be mean and lean by the time shooting begins. “I’m actually headed tonight to Australia to start some stunt-training. I’m meant to drop 30 pounds so smoking and one meal a day is my training at the moment. I’m going to start fighting soon. I’m going to look… like a a hungry wolf. Very hungry and very dangerous. It’s imperative. This is the kind of guy who’s not well. So I have to create that reality.”
Hardy also says the film will be epic and the movie will shoot for nine months. And it is happening. It’s just unclear when. “The movie is absolutely healthy. It is going, it’s just a question of, not if, when precisely.”
“Mad Max 4” also stars Charlize Theron, Nicolas Hoult (“A Single Man”), Zoe Kravitz and Adelaide Clemens.
