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

[biolumen]

More details from the press conference.

New Mad Max film expected to bring 'massive influx' of jobs, cash to regional NSW

By Tony Ibrahim

Regional towns are preparing for a cash boost — and a celebrity sighting or two — when another instalment in the Mad Max franchise begins shooting in New South Wales next year.

Furiosa will create hundreds of jobs and inject $350 million into the economy, according to the NSW government, as money flows from the blockbuster franchise into regional cities like Broken Hill.

"I can't even imagine how some of the areas will cope," said Lesley Vanderwalt, a makeup and hair designer on the upcoming project.

"It's just a massive influx [of people]. Supermarkets will have to put more food on the shelves. People will go shopping on their day off.

"[Films] do inject a lot of money."

Furiosa is the prequel to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, a US$150 million ($193 million) production that grossed $483 million worldwide.

Anya Taylor-Joy of The Queen's Gambit will play the titular character, taking over from Charlize Theron, and will be joined by Aussie Chris Hemsworth in a yet-to-be-revealed role.

Ms Vanderwalt, who won an Oscar for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road, said the blockbuster would bring people, jobs and opportunities to regional towns.

She said up to 93 people each day in her Fury Road team worked on hair and make up and special effects.

"We always start with our usual teams because we know they have the skills, and then every job you bring in new people," she said.

The production could go for three to four-and-a-half months before filming commenced next year, she said.

George Miller, who created the franchise in 1979 with Mel Gibson in the lead, said the film would be shot "all over NSW", but so far only Broken Hill has been specifically named.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the movie would be the largest shot in the state, and would create 850 local jobs.

"Our government is incredibly proud of the talent we have, we want to harness it here in NSW," she said.

"We're using it to create jobs, to build up the industry and to make sure Sydney, NSW and Australia are cultural icons."

Government incentives were a strong draw for the movie's production in NSW. It's receiving partial funding from programs including the $175m Made in NSW fund and $540m location incentive.

Another attraction is Australia's management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Miller said the film's stimulus would ripple across the economy, creating work for more people than those on set.

"When you look at the credits of a film, there are lots of jobs and I can't think of one discipline or one profession that's not used in film," he said.

"We're working with architects, lawyers, doctors, military people, athletes, mathematicians, physicists — all go into making a film."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-20/ ... /100080180

Notably...

Based on the A$350 million comment, this movie's budget will be well north of US$200 million. Should be quite the spectacle.

Some filming to take place at Broken Hill.

Pre-production to last up to 4 1/2 months before filming starts next year.

[biolumen]

Literally just had actor Alex O'Laughlin in my office. Chatted for a bit. Forgot to ask if he tried to audition for this seeing as his Hawaii Five-O has been canceled.

[biolumen]

DoP John Seale is not returning for Furiosa.

Are we about to see the first Mad Max movie without Mad Max?

By Garry Maddox
April 23, 2021 — 2.11pm

Is director George Miller preparing to make the first Mad Max movie without Mad Max?

It’s a fair question given the next instalment announced this week, Furiosa, is a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road. And in that acclaimed 2015 movie, Max (Tom Hardy) met Furiosa (Charlize Theron) for the first time.

“Well, I don’t want to give too much away,” Miller says, with a laugh. “But you never know.”

Touted by Premier Gladys Berejiklian as the biggest movie to be shot in NSW, injecting $350 million into the state’s economy, Furiosa will star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) as a younger version of the fierce post-apocalyptic warrior.

An origin story backed by Hollywood studio Warner Bros, it will show how she became a war captain under Immortan Joe before turning against him in Fury Road to free his five wives. And how she came to have striking close-cropped hair and a missing arm.

The cast includes Chris Hemsworth, who is filming Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman).

Miller made his name with Mad Max in 1979 then followed up with Mad Max 2 in 1981 and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985. It became an iconic action series around the world as the former doctor moved onto directing other movies including The Witches Of Eastwick, Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2.

He plans to shoot Furiosa next year after finishing post-production on the fantasy drama Three Thousand Years Of Longing, which he has just directed with Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton in Sydney.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen this way, the two films crammed up against each other,” Miller says. “But in a way it’s been good. We’ve been preparing and a lot of people have come back.”

His only regret is that the Oscar-winning cinematographer of Fury Road, John Seale, 78, has retired after Three Thousand Years Of Longing. So Miller, 76, will need a new director of photography.

The two spent 100 days with their cast and crew shooting Fury Road in a Namibian desert then more time in a South African studio and Sydney’s Fox Studios to finish it.

It was a triumph on release, taking $US375 million at the worldwide box office and winning six Oscars.

Miller should have quickly moved onto two long-planned new Mad Max movies but a bitter dispute with Warner Bros over payments for Fury Road – now resolved after a leadership change at the studio – will now mean a seven-year gap between filming instalments.

“They’re tough movies to make,” Miller says. “Logistically tough and you have to be really focused and alert all the way through, otherwise they’re going to go wrong.

“Both wrong in a physical sense – in terms of safety – but also wrong just if the film works or not. You really have to be thinking very hard about it but the one thing that gets you through is that this is a story that you can’t wait to tell.”

So will Furiosa have as much action as Fury Road, which jammed 300 stunts into 114 helter-skelter minutes?

“Of course, there will be that,” Miller says. “For better or for worse, I’m still drawn to the action film because I think that’s where basically cinema was born in the silent movies.

“They were often broad comedies – I was hugely influenced by Buster Keaton – and the syntax of film that he used both as a director and a performer. He and Harold Lloyd in particular. I think you can trace the Mad Max films back to what they were doing.”

Miller describes action as an “elemental form” of cinema.

“It’s not just a whole lot of razzle dazzle,” he says. “The action has to be essential to character. The experience has to inform the audience about the character and the interaction of characters.”

After undisclosed incentives from the federal and state governments, Furiosa will be a financial boost to Broken Hill, other filming locations and Australian visual effects companies.

The biggest budget movies to shoot in NSW include two Matrix sequels, two Star Wars episodes, Superman Returns, The Great Gatsby, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder.

https://www.theage.com.au/culture/movie ... 57lhj.html

[Taipan]

I sincerely hope that Dean Semler comes back, that is of course if he hadn't retired already (IMDB shows his latest work is from 2019).
Dean is an absolute legend when it comes to filming, and fun fact - his wife is responsible for discovering Hugh Jackman and she introduced George Miller to tap dancing which made him make Happy Feet!

[Taipan]

I made a new video on Furiosa. Exclusive info, Spoilers ahead.

I'm probably preaching to a choir here but you might find some interesting info in the vid.

https://youtu.be/UVSQTPt-rxg

[biolumen]

Great video. Thanks!

One thing, though. Is the June 2021 shoot still on? Cause the Sydney Morning Herald article posted last month made it sound like it was no longer necessary to shoot that sequence in June now that the government reversed it's plans to lower the film rebate this year.

[Taipan]

Last time I checked, yeah they're still going to film something by the end of the fiscal year to get that tax credit. It's pretty much a requirement at this point because even with AU's gov support they're still looking for extra funds.

[Lorn98]

Fury road wasn’t that violent or gorey, If it weren’t were for a scene or two they could’ve gotten away with a hard PG-13 rating, Wonder how violent they are gonna take it for furiosa though

[biolumen]

Is that action sequence still set to shoot this month? I thought some info would have leaked by now.

[Taipan]

Turns out - no. AFAIK they're not shooting anything this year anymore because they came to an agreement with the NSW gov regarding funding. So they don't have to force shoot any scenes before the end of tax year.

Which doesn't mean they've stopped production!
In fact they're building vehicles as we speak, they're testing them all over the NSW, most recently they've been spotted in Penrith testing some kind of mobile flamethrower for an action scene.

I can't reveal too much for now but I ID'd approximately 4 vehicles that are going to be used in the film so far, which is a drop in the bucket but it's something given how early the production of this film still is. One thing I can say for sure - The War Rig is tiny compared to the new Rig they're building now.