News on the Fury Road : "The Wasteland" & "Furiosa"

[Taipan]

Okay I sourced a bunch of information first hand, so I'll share some of it:

I'm almost 100% sure this is going to be Furiosa's prequel story. Originally called "The Praetorian" it describes the life of Furiosa over the course of 20 years. This is based on the original script treatment by John Collee that was accidentally leaked online for a very brief moment and this info comes from someone who read the entire 30 page treatment. This script was the basis for the Furiosa CGI Anime from 2009 which also included Immortan Joe so it's a fair chance we'll see Immortan again, at least for a brief moment. The entirety of the story is very dark and it's a cross between Lawrence of Arabia and Josh Simmon's "Black River".

As for technical details:
Peter Pound is said to be storyboarding it. Colin Gibson is once again on it, Mark McKinley (chief mechanic), Mark Natoli (panel beating), Matt Bromley (bikes) and Dan Oliver (SFX). Greg Van Borssum is not returning. A certain Australian stunt/precision driving agency is already booked. Location scouting underway, the original iteration of this movie was said to be shot in Queensland's rainforests (For Green Place location shoots most likely). Some Fury Road cars are most likely to be brought out of storage to appear on screen again. No word on Max's interceptor in the movie. That's all for now.

EDIT:
Renamed the topic "News on the Fury Road: "The Wasteland" and "Furiosa" because we're talking about both at this point.

[DGSimo]

Wow. Here we go again!

I didn’t think they were at the stage they were now honestly, I just took George’s various comments about the film happening as being wishful thinking. lol I’m kinda surprised they’re all gearing up and moving forward when Miller is set to direct his “indie” film this month...?

[Taipan]

I forgot to mention that 'Furiosa' was in various stages of pre-production since 2008-9 so it's not exactly a project that just popped out of the blue.
The story was essentially ready to go once and it's been shelved, while some preliminary storyboards and concept art were worked on while Miller worked on Fury Road.

It's not uncommon for Miller to work on a few projects at the same time for long periods of time, that was the case with pre-production of Fury Road while Miller was working on Happy Feet 1 and 2.

But there's one piece of info that got me really worried. Turns out that George Miller's mental state became very bad in the last 3 months of filming Fury Road to the point he virtually wasn't able to direct. I'm sure you heard that Miller wanted to do a 'smaller' movie after Fury Road and that was exactly the reason. He literally had a mental breakdown on the set of Fury Road and couldn't direct it. He handed over directorial duties to someone else who wasn't properly paid, nor credited (I will not name them because they've long moved on from this). That was 8 years ago so I'm really worried if George is going to manage this new Mad Max movie if it is just as intense as Fury Road.

[henry2]

DGSimo, it's good to hear from you again! You don't post much when a MAD MAX movie isn't coming out. I enjoy your posts. And Taipan, thanks for all the scoops, interesting stuff. This is a great time to be a Miller fan, he's my favorite writer, producer and director!

[Immortan Joecutter]

Man, that's awesome Taipan.

Up to this point I wasn't really convinced that they're actually doing this. I wish Miller lot of strength and endurance for this project. Let's hope the film will not be disturbed (again) by unforeseen events...

I don't know if this casting rumor of Jodie Comer playing Furiosa is true or not...

jodie-comer1.jpg (18.89 KiB) Viewed 15601 times

...but damn, she would be perfect for the role!

[AquaCola]

Cheers for the post Taipan!

I read countless Fury Road interviews and dug up as much of the storyboard and concept art as I could. George said Max and Furiosa will have an encounter in her film so it will be a sequel as well as a prequel pro Fury Road. We will also the Door Warrior's origins in this film too. From everything I've read and learned about this film I'm confident it will be epic.

Fury Road would have been a fine swan song but if Miller is up to task then I look forward to seeing another MM film in the cinema.

[biolumen]

Thanks for the updates Taipan.

The start of a global pandemic tipped me off that Miller was gearing up to make another Mad Max movie.

[Copwatch]

Hi everyone!

I haven't posted in a long time, but I'm the source Taipan is quoting from who read the original treatment for The Praetorian.

It is excellent. It is obscenely dark. It will answer all of your questions, and it will do so in unexpected ways. When I made the reference to Josh Simmons Black River (which, if anyone hasn't read it, do so), I meant specifically because the film is very concerned with issues of bodily autonomy, and the grimy, ugly day-to-day functions of the post-apocalyptic world, and how Immortan's empire works within it. But while that comic is ultimately very intimate and self-contained, The Praetorian is an epic in the classical sense. Sweeping and at turns incredibly violent in ways that would make Tarantino blush. Another comparison I've made is to the films of Kenji Mizoguchi, especially for the middle part.

It's also not as action-heavy as Fury Road by design. It's a character-focused narrative. But if they pull it off right (and if everything in the treatment remains after thirteen years), there are some sequences that will be eye-popping.

[Taipan]

Hi everyone!

I haven't posted in a long time, but I'm the source Taipan is quoting from who read the original treatment for The Praetorian.

It is excellent. It is obscenely dark. It will answer all of your questions, and it will do so in unexpected ways. When I made the reference to Josh Simmons Black River (which, if anyone hasn't read it, do so), I meant specifically because the film is very concerned with issues of bodily autonomy, and the grimy, ugly day-to-day functions of the post-apocalyptic world, and how Immortan's empire works within it. But while that comic is ultimately very intimate and self-contained, The Praetorian is an epic in the classical sense. Sweeping and at turns incredibly violent in ways that would make Tarantino blush. Another comparison I've made is to the films of Kenji Mizoguchi, especially for the middle part.

It's also not as action-heavy as Fury Road by design. It's a character-focused narrative. But if they pull it off right (and if everything in the treatment remains after thirteen years), there are some sequences that will be eye-popping.

Since this treatment served as the basis for Maedo Mahira's concept art for Furiosa's Anime, do you remember if Furiosa is supposed to have some kind of a sidekick? In Mahira's art there's this weird big clock with legs hanging out with kid-Furiosa, not sure what's that about, maybe it's Mahira's own creation for the purposes of it being an animated flick, but it's confusing to say the least.

[Copwatch]

That actually appears to be an on the spot commission for a talk show Mahira was being interviewed on, about the project. The clock character is the talk show's mascot, all Mad Max'd up. And that's actually the talk show host behind him, not young Furiosa in the art he's seen in.