Brendan McCarthy talks Fury Road, reveals comic book cover

[biolumen]

CBR News: Brendan, how exactly did you come to be involved with "Mad Max: Fury Road" and what's the journey been like to get it to the screen?

Brendan McCarthy: I used to write to George Miller when I was much younger, as I was totally enthralled by "Mad Max 2: Road Warrior." It absolutely blew me away when I saw it for the first time in 1981. It mangled my mind -- it was "The Matrix" for a previous generation, in that it was highly influential and trend setting. I think I had one of those religious experiences you hear so much about when I walked out of the cinema! I was literally shaking... For most people it was the "Star Wars" trilogy...but for me, it was always "Mad Max." I couldn't believe how damn good it was. And still is.

Inspired by ["Road Warrior"], I cooked up the comic series "Freakwave" with Peter Milligan, a sort of "Mad Max goes surfing" strip which came out in the early '80s, many years before the wretched "Waterworld," I hasten to add.

I met George Miller in Hollywood and we just hit it off. I knew almost everything he had done and I counted him as one of my favorite directors, even though he was strangely below the radar in those days. We yakked about "Mad Max" trilogy for hours, and I even pitched him a totally bonkers "Mad Max 4" storyline! But I didn't think a new "Mad Max" movie was ever on his agenda at the time.

Anyway, a few months later he asked me over to Sydney to bounce around some story ideas he had. I think he saw the benefits of working with a comic book artist and writer in that you can get a script written and elements visually designed as you go along. And I was steeped in the mythology of the series and had a million new ideas to express. I took the task of co-creating a new "Mad Max" movie as a serious, sacred artistic duty, frankly.

As for the amount of time it's taken to get "Fury Road" onto the screen, George has outlined the long and winding road in his recent interviews. Back then, it was to be the fourth installment of the Mel Gibson "Max," but it took so long to get going that Mel eventually dropped out. Thankfully an actor with the required raw talent, Tom Hardy, appeared on the scene. Later, another screenwriter, Nico Lathouris, was brought in to recalibrate the script with George so it would work for the younger Tom Hardy. And as far as I can tell, the long gestation time has only done wonders for the story and design work. I saw quite a bit of a rough cut over a year ago, and it looked sensational even then. The trailer was fantastic and really did steal Comic Con this year. Warners has done a terrific job in getting the "Mad Max" brand back into people's heads and I'd say this is now one of the most anticipated movies of next year. If the actual movie is half as good as the trailer, then we're in for a treat.

I am hopeful that the characters of the Five Wives, the teenage girls, will get hordes of young women going to see the movie too, as well as the expected motley mob of petrol heads, punks, freaks and adrenaline junkies! I'm really confident that this film will not disappoint those of us who hold "Road Warrior" in such high esteem. When I was co-writing this with George, we had an informal agreement that if "Fury Road" wasn't going to be absolutely the f**king bee's knees, he would flush it and forget about it.

What sorts of designs did you come up with for the characters and vehicles in the film? What inspired your style?

I did the first pass designs on pretty much everything in the movie as we wrote it, working off an electroboard and printing out bits of script and designs as we went along. These were then added to the illustrated script until the story was completed. It went through many radical changes as we went along. Then we started on the storyboards which were edited together to form an animatic/storyreel.

As the years rolled by and different creative teams came and went, the designs evolved into what they look like now. Some of my original vision is intact, and other parts of it have grown into a new visual solution, far better than what was first proposed. The retro-gangster hotrod style of the vehicles was a design philosophy that has remained, as we wanted to move on from the dune buggy look of the trilogy. The Australian comic strip and horror artist Peter Pound in particular, made a brilliant contribution to specific car designs and some new characters. I'd love to see him do some American horror strips.

The first period of writing a movie is always the most wild and creatively loose, before everything gets locked down by dramatic requirements. It's the brainstorming time and there are lots of drawings of really out there characters and vehicles that were tried out, just for the hell of it, but which didn't make it. I remember sitting George down and watching segments of the Sex Pistols' movie "The Filth and The Fury," for the crazed energy that we'd want for the War Boys sequences.

What was it like co-writing the script with George Miller?

George is a very formidable talent, a hugely intelligent man. He's got a surreal sense of humor too, which I share, and which percolates all his movies. Just think of Max with a giant clown's head on in "Beyond Thunderdome," the bizarre flavour of "Pig in the City," or Jack Nicholson puking up millions of cherries in "Witches of Eastwick." He's a unique Aussie mixture of Terry Gilliam, Spielberg and Kubrick. A major director.

We had a great deal of fun knocking our heads together and building the story and visuals. We both had so many ideas; it was possible to have a great game of creative tennis with him.

He's mentioned elsewhere that he enjoyed the storyboarding part of the process, where much of the "real writing" gets done. It's pretty much the way animated movies are put together, which I was very familiar with: Loose first draft, then storyboard to storyreel. The whole thing is one big feedback loop, with the written script continually mutating in tune with the boards. In fact, the final screenplay was more like a hybrid comic book, with images and text running alongside each other. I really hope Warner Bros. will put out a book of this document. I think it's pretty unique and will be of great interest to other writers and storytellers.

When I went to Namibia to watch the shoot a while back, I saw George in his element, surrounded by monstrous vehicles and insane tribal warriors in a post-apocalyptic scenario. What's great about it is that he actually created this genre and is its prime exponent. His producing partner, Doug Mitchell who does all his movies, had marshaled what looked like the entire country to achieve the shots needed for the story. They're a very efficient and successful team.

Is there anything you can tell us about what challenges Mad Max faces in the film?

I don't want to get into specific sequences and spoil it for viewers, so let me say that thematically, the film deals with human beings as commodities and control over the future of the human race; patriarchy and the emergence of a new matriarchal order; the manipulation of youth by war propaganda and religious cult brainwashing.

One of the most chilling developments was creating a group of kamikaze suicide warriors well before that became a staple of the nightly news after 9/11.

George's desire that the film be in continuous motion, "one long chase" as he called it, was an exciting hook to hang the drama over and came with its own challenges.

You're sharing a cover for a never-produced "Mad Max" comic book for this interview. What's the story behind it? Was "Fury Road" ever going to become a comic instead of a film?

No, "Fury Road" was always created to be a live action feature. The comic book cover was just a mock-up to keep a graphic novel or series in the mix. The idea was that I might adapt the script/boards that I wrote with George into a comic book in its own right. It was never used or seen -- until now! I assume at some point DC or whoever, will get some "Mad Max" comics out there. It's a great opportunity to expand on the "Mad Max" universe.

There is also a big computer game coming out, concurrently developed with the movie over the last few years. George had a big hand in its conception and took the gaming narrative seriously. I had nothing to do with it, as it happened well after my time on the film.

As I haven't seen the completed movie myself, I can assure you that I am looking forward to it as much as anybody else! It will please me if we have delivered a movie that does justice to the wonderful films that preceded it.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=54991

[Wife Five]

That's a great visual. I'd certainly buy a decent Mad Max comic series.

I'd love to see Simon Bisley drawing it with someone like Garth Ennis writing. (Not that Brendan McCarthy wouldn't be good too.)

Interesting what McCarthy says about the writing process. Not quite sure what he means by 'electroboard' though... Never heard of that before.

[P-Tron]

Interesting what McCarthy says about the writing process. Not quite sure what he means by 'electroboard' though... Never heard of that before.

By the sounds of it when he says electroboard, he means an animatic, which is basically an animated story board which can sometime include sound too. Filmakers use it to get a sense of how scenes might play out.

Here is a link to an animatic done for Iron Man 3, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiZRuOxiCGw

Of course I could be wrong on what an electroboard means.

[DGSimo]

Aw man. I scrolled to see the image first and got excited...then I read the interview and saw there was no such thing.

[kennerado]

That Fury Road logo is the same one they used on all the crew clothing during the production.

[biolumen]

Another McCarthy interview, this one in the French language movie magazine 'Premiere'. Quoted is the Google translation. Original French article at link.

Brendan McCarthy: "With Mad Max Fury Road, the whole world will finally realize that George Miller is one of the greatest"

12/11/2014 - 5:44 p.m.

How to reactivate an old cult franchise 30 years? Brendan McCarthy, co-writer of Mad Max Fury Road , explains the pitfalls encountered on the road to live up to the challenge.

Mad Max. The name evokes incredible images - cameras devouring roads, surreal pileups, crashes, punk imagery. 30 after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), a new Max tumble on movie screens and if the whole film is at the height of its trailers, it will be hard. George Miller , the creator of the trilogy original is still in control, but chose to co-pilot the comic book artist Brendan McCarthy punk rock. For First , it refers exclusively to the challenges presented by the most exciting project next year.

My sense in view of the trailer is that standeth the Mad Max 3 was hoped in 1985.

Sure. Fury Road was designed like that, as a sequel to Mad Max 2 , rather than a continuation of the Thunder Dome .

When you started working with Miller, he has more than 10 years, Mel Gibson was to play Max. And finally, the time has passed ... and Tom Hardy replaced. You were still in the project when Hardy happened?

No, throughout my involvement, Mel had to play Max. Then I then went on another project, following the time ... and Mel decided that the momentum to play Max had happened, and Tom Hardy appeared on the radar ... It is a new actor, and intense - I was glad that George had bet on him.

Apparently the film has no script? ? Just a storyboard

To write the script, we used an electronic board: a table on which we can draw and write to the tag. We wrote the dialogues, and sometimes I drew a design of vehicle or character, and at the end of the day, we printed the whole. The combined pages eventually form a book, which became suddenly the scenario. From the time he made ​​the film, I think George getting tired of the conventional approach of writing scenario. Work with me, who come from the world of comics, have seemed to him refreshing and different.

Was it a conscious action on your part, to refer to the original trilogy? I think the shotgun, the muzzle ...

We actually wanted to reference items mythology Mad Max, as double-barreled shotgun, muzzle, and yet return. There are also references to the movie in Australian cinema of the 70s, like The Cars That Ate Paris . A film that has greatly influenced Miller on Mad Max original.

What is your initial relationship with Mad Max ?

In the last century, before the internet, VHS and DVD, to see some films outside the traditional system had to go to porn cinemas, midnight screenings, and double tap programs with branques films. One night I found myself in a double program Mad Max and The Cars That Ate Paris! You can imagine the shock! I was stunned by the two films. It was pure punk rock visual. George Miller grew up in the 60s, so he was influenced by The Wild equipped , Easy Rider ... He was inspired by these films to fashion a vision punk rock, harder more violent, more energetic. When Mad Max 2 was released, with costumes designed by Norma Moriceau who had worked on the film Sex Pistols The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle ... I farted a cable. I saw the work on screen of a director who for me was like a soul mate. JG Ballard, the writer, said of Mad Max 2 it was the Sistine Chapel of punk. Incredible ... For our generation, Mad Max 2 was a revolutionary film that has galvanized people. The film brilliantly symbolized this zetgeist that was punk. But he took what Mad Max 1 - and led much further. Particularly in the visual dynamic, frenetic and kinetic sense. The final chase in Mad Max 2 was far beyond anything we had seen before. And it is still true today.

I see the film at least once a year. I am always amazed and overwhelmed by the power of the stage in the climax. The bodies fly, literally, for real. No filmmaker has managed to climb even just at the ankle last 20 minutes of Mad Max 2 . Now, you are helping Miller to reboot the series for the 21st century: how to overcome such a thing? Because-you are forced ...

When we started working on the project with George, we reviewed Bullitt, Ronin, and most films made ​​since the 80s inspired by Mad Max, we could consider the competition .dropoff window And in the end, we realized indeed that the only film with which we were really in competition, it was Mad Max 2! We were competing with ourselves! We also realized that we could never make another film cult like Mad Max 2. That was a film of outsider, produced outside the system, with traces of series B in it. But in terms of dynamics and immersion in the action that we seek, it became obvious that Mad Max 2 was the canon against which we must measure ourselves. Now, yes, how do we overcome Mad Max 2? We can not produce a custom cult movie, but we can try to produce a classic. And that's what we tried to do with Fury Road .

My feeling is that Miller explores a different kind to each film. The first film is a samurai film, the second a Western, and the third a peplum. I feel that Fury Road is a survival. Am I wrong?

The bias Miller for this new episode is to make the movie a long pursuit. Indeed, as a result, we have a film that is constantly in motion. Of course, we have spared a few moments of rest ... It's a bit this structure there, actually.

You know the story, told by Kurt Russell , whom Miller projected a VHS Mad Max in Australia in 1979, before the film is distributed globally? Kurt has taken a huge slap in the face, and made ​​New York in 1997 with John Carpenter after a movie under very big influence ...

You know, just seeing Terminator ... Cameron also claimed the influence of Mad Max 2 . I think the younger generation does not understand how this film was crucial for the future: science fiction films, video games ... Frankly when I saw Mad Max 2 , my head exploded. The intelligence in the staging, the way Miller leads the narrative. The post-modern side, as in this incredible scene where one of the bad guys catching the boomerang, and makes slicing fingers. Happens after a terrible sequence in which snuff barbaric rape a woman seen through a telescope! It was incredible.

The bar is really high when it comes to make a sequel to one count of such work, a film also worship Mad Max 2. You have succeeded as strong points in Fury Road?

I can not spoiler movie ! (laughs) . But we did not think in terms of possible twists. The characters were allowed and history dictate. We made ​​massive changes in the script, the end for example was totally changed everything, because you do not want it to seem forced. In the end, on the screen, it is the vision of George. Its unique vision of the world of Mad Max. It was a great privilege for me to reinvent this franchise with him, and to reach our goal was to make a new film at the previous height.

I believe that George Miller is one of the greatest directors of the last 35 years, but it is very underrated.

I totally agree. For me it is the rank of major, Spielberg, Gilliam, Burton ... The difference with George, who is an innovator is that it was not stored in Hollywood. There was a short stay with The Witches of Eastwick and episode of The Twilight Zone ... But I'm not sure there had a good time! But Fury Road , the world will finally realize that George Miller is one of the greatest.

http://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cine ... ds-4098234

[Dethroned Emperor]

Another McCarthy interview, this one in the French language movie magazine 'Premiere'. Quoted is the Google translation.


... I farted a cable.

Gotta love google translation

[Stamper]

LOL, the actual word is "I snapped" or something. 'I went mad'

[DetritusMaximus]

I think it might be more like "I pooped a log".
By the way, The Great Rock and Roll Swindle is pretty good. Although, it won't make much sense to anyone not familiar with the Sex Pistols. Lots of stuff reused in The Filth and The Fury, but I prefer Swindle. Good soundtrack, too, look for The Black Arabs disco Pistols medley.

[Stamper]

Blow a fuse would be appropriate lol