STACK NZ Sep #66

FEATURE

DVD & BD

Yeah. I think that’s great because I remember that my parents were huge fans of the original, so I had an awareness of it through them. But there’s definitely a new generation of people who don’t even know what Mad Max is. And I think that’s the beauty of Fury Road . It’s a standalone movie, but it has elements that definitely connect to the movies from the ‘70s and ‘80s. There are nice little gems, if you know those films, but you don’t need to. And if you know those films, obviously what you know is what Mel Gibson brought to Mad Max. But I think George was incredibly smart in getting Tom to kind of reinvent this great character, this iconic character, because Tom just doesn’t play by the rules and I think you needed that in order to really create something new. It was pretty brave for him to step into shoes filled by an actor like Mel Gibson. I think it takes a really ballsy, brave actor to not be scared to bring his own thing to it, and yet, at the same time, be respectful of the character that George created with Mel back then, and hang onto the emotional drive that I think is very similar. But he really created something that is, I think, very, very deserving of a new Mad Max film. How did you find the experience of shooting the film in the deserts of Namibia, and driving theWar Rig in pretty much non-stop action?  Physically and logistically, it was definitely the hardest film that I’ve ever made. I think you can bear anything for four months, which is normal for a movie. And we shot, I want to say, six months, seven months? Most of the movie was shot in Namibia. We were really in the middle of nowhere. I think the process of making this movie,

was demanded from us every single day – helped us create these characters. I mean, everything about this movie is determined by fear. All of these people are driven by fear and not knowing. And I found my own life to be that while I was shooting it. That was definitely a strange correlation, and one that I am glad was over after eight months, to be quite honest, because it was really tough. Is there a moment that you remember during production that was particularly intense to shoot or just took your breath away? There are lot of them. We were shooting with these stunt units, and it’s pretty incredible what they were doing. I think as an actor, you kind of prepare for this stuff that you have to do, and, for me, there were these amazing moments when you see what the stunt people were doing around you that you weren’t prepared for – the work on wires and poles that they were doing in the fight sequences. Getting to do that while you were actually driving the War Rig, and having people kind of fall in and out of the truck while this fight sequence was happening, I mean, it was incredible to watch. Or watching real explosions while you’re doing an action sequence. You realise you’re really in a world. There’s no CGI. There’s no green screen. This is, really, a director giving you the opportunity to embed in a whole world. And, as an actor, that’s such a great gift. There was an element of everybody, in a safe way, wanting to really kind of push this film, and for us, on a physical level, we felt that every single day. There’s a scene where we’re driving the War Rig and I have to hold Tom up when he’s falling out of the truck. And because of my character’s mechanical arm, I was attached to him on a wire, but the wire did drop a little too far below so I had to extend my body out of the window. I mean, I think I was prepared for all of this stuff, but while we were in it, it was a little hairy. What do you think audiences have to look forward to when they experience Mad Max: Fury Road , and what do hope they take away from it?  I hope that the movie speaks to an audience on individual terms, because, for myself, as a moviegoer, that’s why I love movies. So, to say what I hope they take away from it, that’s kind of killing the magic of why I think we make movies. We all go sit in a dark room, and a story takes us somewhere, or does something to us – moves us, makes us angry, makes us laugh. And then we walk out and have disagreements about it. And I think that’s the beauty of film. So, I hope moviegoers experience all of those things.

too, was very unusual. I don’t think any of us, as actors, has ever experienced a process like this – not really having a script, not necessarily having scene numbers. The demand was to kind of show up and just be in this movie, not necessarily be in the scene you’re shooting that day. We were really living in this world the entire time that we were shooting, for 130 days. So, it was exhausting at times. For everything that we lacked in dialogue, we definitely made up for in physical contact, brute force, and just being in the desert. There was a physical aspect to this character I had to keep up – upper body strength and a physical look – that was hard because it’s not necessarily easy for my female body to maintain. We were meant to shoot this movie three years earlier, and that was like the perfect time in my life, when I wanted to kind of set off and just live in a tent in the middle of a desert by myself. But then, by the time we actually made the movie, my life was quite a bit changed. I had just become a new mom, and I had different responsibilities. So, mentally, it was a little tricky for me to get my head around it. But, for me, I think all that really helped the movie. Being on that road and the fear we all felt as actors – the not necessarily knowing what

• Mad Max: Fury Road is out Sept 2

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