Mad Max Movie Being Directed By Mel Gibson

[MWFV8]

Fascinating stuff.

This is it. Important production members sometimes have to keep directors in check. This idea that Miller is some all-knowing god of Mad Max has to be dropped.

[Taipan]

That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Fury Road wouldn't have been made if it weren't for the 2nd unit director helping Miller out with his work on the 1st unit after Miller's surgery, literally telling Miller where goes what.
Margaret Sixel was a safe net too - I quote "We're here to stop you (Miller) from embarrassing yourself" (Miller's words as he was talking about the editing process).
Brendan McCarthy was the spiritual leader behind the initial process of designing the movie because he is as much of a fan of the franchise as he is a brilliant designer.
Miller/Mitchell approached McCarthy first with the intent of making a Mad Max TV Show akin to then popular Xena: The Warrior Princess. McCarthy saved it from becoming that.
Then there's the WETA thing. In fact the more interviews I hear from Colin Gibson the more I get the impression he was the one who grounded the whole movie along with the whole design team. We're talking writing books and booklets about the tribes in the movies, cars, hell there's even a booklet describing in detail the damage done to the War Rig throughout the whole movie.

After learning all this I started to think that maybe it's the true reason Miller doesn't have the drive to make another Mad Max movie and that accrediting the whole movie to Miller alone is a gross overstatement. Although he holds the vision in his head (which caused some friction on the set because actors didn't know what the was after exactly), he is just as much a cog in the wheel as a lot of other people who remain in the background. It's also the reason I wouldn't mind the next installment of the Mad Max franchise to be taken over by someone else, preferably with deep understanding of it. Mel Gibson seems to fit the bill, and it's far beyond that generally shallow argument that 'well he was Max before so he should direct a Mad Max movie". The stories are already there, they just need to be dressed. Initial concept art has already been done albeit I haven't seen it, but I trust they don't steer too far off the mark this time.

[MWFV8]

Dude, you need to podcast some of this stuff. Or do videos like you mentioned. I podcast myself on a different topic and you don't need to worry about rambling.

You need to take ownership of the discussion because you are clearly becoming -the- person with the most rounded knowledge of Mad Max, both in terms of story and production. I for one would champion you as best I can.

[henry2]

As far as I'm concerned, as I have said before, I would rather have no more MAD MAX films than one not directed by Miller. I realize I'm at the other end of the spectrum from Taipan and MWFV8 and I'm not trying to cause trouble, but that's just how I feel. I'm a MAD MAX fan AND a George Miller fan. He's my all time favorite. I know you two don't agree with me, but I'm entitled to my opinion, as are you guys. I look forward to Miller's future films, and I hope MAD MAX is one of them.

[themanw/oaname]

As far as I'm concerned, as I have said before, I would rather have no more MAD MAX films than one not directed by Miller. I realize I'm at the other end of the spectrum from Taipan and MWFV8 and I'm not trying to cause trouble, but that's just how I feel. I'm a MAD MAX fan AND a George Miller fan. He's my all time favorite. I know you two don't agree with me, but I'm entitled to my opinion, as are you guys. I look forward to Miller's future films, and I hope MAD MAX is one of them.

i was right there with you about ghostbusters. i'd prefer no ghostbusters sequel or reboot than one just to have one.

however.

there's a fan theory that mad max is about the legend of max told by other characters in the story and how they perceived him. if miller handed off the series to someone else, that would be a real life way of doing that; and unlike most movies i dont see how it could go wrong. to make a mad max movie would be a labor of love first, not "we have to make it appeal to teenagers and male 18-34 markets"

[AquaCola]

For me MM is about the world first and foremost. I just love the post apocalyptic setting ever since I saw the first 15ish mins of Road Warrior and got Fallout 2 as a kid. The cars are a big part of that but I've never been too into car culture.

Mel Gibson directing a MM film? That would be awesome.

[Taipan]

Dude, you need to podcast some of this stuff. Or do videos like you mentioned. I podcast myself on a different topic and you don't need to worry about rambling.

You need to take ownership of the discussion because you are clearly becoming -the- person with the most rounded knowledge of Mad Max, both in terms of story and production. I for one would champion you as best I can.

Thanks! That's actually a good idea. I tried doing that podcast alone and it'd be better if there was someone to ground the discussion a little bit or at least slow me down because there's so much info I'm all over the place. I'll PM you and we'll figure something out!

[AquaCola]

^Keep up the great work on the Mad Max wiki, its much appreciated.

[seriz]

The thing about him that convinced me the most though is that Mel really understands the character of Max.
In one of the more recent interviews, I think it was on the Hi Octane Blu Ray bonus, Mel explained perfectly what Max is about - Max is supposed to be scared but never show it, and engage regardless.

What he said in this doco is nice, but from the begining, he never took Mad Max very seriously. How many interviews we have where he said that MM1 was a piece of shit. He explained several time how embarassed he was to see people getting exciting with the movie first time he saw it.
Even for the second one, he said that it was better crafted, done in a better way, but Max was for him an empty character. During the interview with the french team on the set of MM3, he said that all that stuff wasn't serious for him.
So I really doubted about Gibson's interest in the Mad Max movies. I mean, he said yes for a fourth movie, knowing he was going to earn a lot of money... then finally said "i don't give a shit, i'm too old".
And more, where the MM movies have nothing in common with his own obsessions.
Mel Gibson would be better directing the Milius'Genghis Khan !

I didn't see that with Tom Hardy. I don't blame the actor because it was the director who told him what to do

are you really sure of that ?

[Taipan]

To be fair I've never actually heard him trash the Mad Max movies, except maybe the first one that he didn't take seriously, but at that point I'm not sure who except for Byron and Miller took it seriously.
But you gotta admit what he said about Max was on point, the way it's acted out is totally different from Tom Hardy's Max. From that thing alone I think it qualifies GIbson as the one who understands the character more, even if he doesn't like it.
Those things aren't mutual, I've heard Gibson mention a few times that he's more interested in 'evil' characters than the main ones because they have more depth to them. Fair enough. And on top of it all, Gibson knows how to direct. Miller noticed that about Gibson early on too. Hehe in the end I'm not saying that Gibson MUST GO AND DO THE NEXT MAD MAX MOVIE, but that he's quite qualified to do it, in my opinion moreso than others. I really doubt he would be interested in actually doing that though. He's on a crucifix and history bender now, I doubt he would want to revisit the franchise given a chance.

As for Tom Hardy and Miller, yeah I'm pretty sure Tom Hardy had trouble understanding Miller's vision because that's exactly what he had said in a few interviews. Only after he watched the complete movie he understood what Miller was on about.