page_title: Mad Max: Fury Road
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Mad Max: Fury Road / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: George Miller speaking at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Mad Max: Fury Road", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
context_page_description: Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 Australian post-apocalyptic action film co-written, co-produced, and directed by George Miller. Miller collaborated with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris on the screenplay. The fourth installment and a "revisiting" of the Mad Max films, it was produced by Kennedy Miller Mitchell and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland where petrol and water are scarce commodities. It follows Max Rockatansky, who joins forces with Imperator Furiosa to flee from cult leader Immortan Joe and his army in an armoured tanker truck, leading to a lengthy road battle. The film also features Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Abbey Lee and Courtney Eaton.
  Fury Road was in development hell for many years, with pre-production starting as early as 1997. Attempts to shoot the film in 2001 and 2003 were delayed due to the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. In 2007, after focusing on the animated comedy Happy Feet, Miller decided to pursue it again. He briefly considered producing Fury Road as a computer-animated film but abandoned it in favor of live-action.
context_section_description: Plans for a fourth film in the Mad Max series hit financial difficulties and the project spent several years in "development hell". In 1995, George Miller re-acquired the rights to future Mad Max films from Warner Bros. The idea for a fourth instalment occurred to Miller in August 1998 when he was walking in an intersection in Los Angeles. About a year later, while travelling from Los Angeles to Australia, the idea coalesced. Miller conceived a story where "violent marauders were fighting, not for oil or for material goods, but for human beings." The film was set to shoot in 2001 through 20th Century Fox, but was postponed because of the September 11 attacks that same year. "The American dollar collapsed against the Australian dollar, and our budget ballooned", Miller said, adding that he "had to move on to Happy Feet because there was a small window when that was ready". Mel Gibson, who starred in the original three previous films, would not return to his role as the lead character. Miller ended up re-casting the role because of controversies surrounding Gibson and because he wanted Max to remain at a younger age, as the "same contemporary warrior". Miller announced in 2003 that a script had been written for a fourth film, and that pre-production was in the early stages. The project was given the green light to begin filming in the Australian desert in May 2003 with a budget of US$100 million, but the location was ruined by rainfall. Mad Max 4 entered then a hiatus in light of security concerns related to its Namibian shoot because of tightened travel and shipping restrictions at the onset of the Iraq War.
  In November 2006, Miller stated that he intended to make Fury Road and that the film was never going to involve Gibson: "There's a real hope. The last thing I wanted to do is another Mad Max, but this script came along, and I'm completely carried away with it." The film's screenplay was co-written with cult British comic creator Brendan McCarthy, who also designed many of the new characters and vehicles. Miller again confirmed his intention to make another Mad Max at the 2007 Aurora filmmaker initiative. He stated that he thought Gibson would not be interested in the film because of his age. Heath Ledger was reportedly considered for the lead before his death in 2008. On 5 March 2009, it was announced that an R-rated 3D animated feature film was in pre-production and would be taking much of the plot from Fury Road, although Gibson would not be in the film and Miller was looking for a "different route", a "renaissance" of the franchise. Miller cited director Akira Kurosawa as an inspiration for what he wanted to do with the franchise. Miller was also developing an action-adventure tie-in video game based on the fourth film, along with God of War II video game designer Cory Barlog. Both projects were expected to take two to two-and-a-half years, according to Miller, with a release date of either 2011 or 2012. Fury Road was going to be produced at Dr. D Studios, a digital art studios founded in 2008 by Miller and Doug Mitchell.
  On 18 May 2009, it was reported that location scouting was underway for Mad Max 4. After exploring the possibility of an animated 3D film, Miller decided instead to shoot a 3D live action film. By this time, production had moved to Warner Bros. In October 2009, Miller announced that principal photography on Fury Road would commence at Broken Hill, New South Wales in early 2011, ending years of speculation. This announcement attracted widespread media attention in Australia, with speculation on whether Gibson would return as Max. That same month, British actor Tom Hardy was in negotiations to take the lead role of Max, while it was also announced that Charlize Theron would play a major role in the film. In June 2010, Hardy announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that he would play the title role. In July 2010, Miller announced plans to shoot two Mad Max films back-to-back, entitled Mad Max: Fury Road and Mad Max: Furiosa. Weta Digital was originally involved with the film when it was scheduled
caption: Director George Miller (pictured in 2014) announced in 2003 that a script had been written for a fourth film, and that pre-production was in the early stages.
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