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FEATURE MOVIE

G eorge Miller has left an indelible mark on the film landscape, having given us the Happy Feet and Babe movies, The Witches of Eastwick , and Lorenzo’s Oil , amongst others. But it’s Mad Max that blazes one of cinema’s biggest trails, and has become his life’s work. “I’m still bewildered by it, to be perfectly honest,” he admits earnestly. “Because that first Mad Max was the toughest film I’ve had to make, mainly because it was my first time on a film set and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t think that I would make another film, let alone another Mad Max . “I realised that Max was an archetype and I began to figure out why, and began to understand storytelling. And that’s led me on this path and my curiosity is still intact. After the first one, I didn’t want to make the second, but then it became a reason for me to atone for the first. And the third one was because the second one worked and I had other stories to tell. And then I said that I would never make another Mad Max movie again!” he says, with laughter. “And then 25 to 30 years later a story pops into my head, and I thought, ‘Gee, that’s an interesting story. Maybe we can do it”.

George Miller

Unprecedented weather forced the production of Fury Road to Namibia, however Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga saw George and his crew back in the dust bowl surrounds of Broken Hill. “It was very interesting to go back to Silverton and Broken Hill, where Mad Max 2 was shot, as one of our key bases. We shot on some of the exact roads we shot on all those years ago. To see that the landscape hadn’t really changed in all that time, and bit by bit with townspeople getting involved in the production, it’s become the home of Mad Max .”

From out of the Wasteland and into your loungeroom, George Miller’s ambitious fifth entry in the Mad Max franchise arrives with a fury, offering back story to the saga’s newest hero, Imperator Furiosa. Words Glenn Cochrane

• Furiosa: A Mad Max

Saga is out Aug 21

C hatting with STACK , the movie’s stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth discuss making the film, and being part of such a humongous legacy. “The Wasteland is

for her was. “So, for a large portion of the film he basically gave me my eyes. Like, my eyes were all I had in order to be able to communicate where the character was at. And what that instilled

exploration of these characters, shooting in the desert, and the extreme elements, the visceral energy that echoes through the entire set is now forever imprinted on me.”

Dundee and Mad Max . They were my childhood and I have very vivid memories of watching those films with my dad and talking about the cars and the motorbikes. My dad raced motorbikes and knew a lot of the stunt riders in the film, so for years later to be a part of that world was an incredible pinch myself moment. I’m covered in bruises still”. Anya recalls the serendipitous moment she found out that she’d been cast as Furiosa. “I was in Belfast shooting a movie when Fury Road came out, and we went to see it as a cast bonding experience. I remember the film finishing and that it was absolutely gobsmackingly amazing. And in a fun bit of kismet, I was walking past that same cinema when I got the call that Furiosa was happening.”

not a place that celebrates any show of hyper-visible

in me was perseverance for making sure that I could have moments in the film where I could break out.” “I’m not great at sitting still,” admits Chris. “I had four hours in the makeup chair, which was a real test for me and my genetic makeup,” he says with amusement. “So that was a lesson in stillness. But everything else that was asked of me I just found so enjoyable. The creative adventure we went on, and the

emotion,” says Anya, when asked what George Miller’s tallest order

Hemsworth, a born and bred Melbournian, had a strong affinity for Mad Max growing up, and fondly recalls watching the earlier movies with his old man. “We had a very mad family,” he says cheekily. “It was Crocodile

Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth

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