George Miller gave a talk here at the Sydney Opera House last weekend about Fury Road. He was joined by co-writers Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. Designers/artists Mark Sexton and Peter Pound were also there. It was pretty cool. As they talked there was a projection of concept art, storyboards and photos behind them.
Some things they talked about:
-How the process took so long, from the late 90s to the stops and starts of production throughout the 2000s.
-Lathouris talked of Max being a "wounded animal" that finds his purpose in the world.
-Everything in the movie had a logic, every character a backstory. Everything was made up found parts.
-George was interested in making a movie where everything was revealed on the run, where it looked like the tip of the iceberg, but people could find the whole iceberg underneath.
-Brendan McCarthy originally wrote it that Max was to stay with Furiosa at the end, but Miller and Lathouris didn't feel Max had earned that yet.
-The War Boys had half-life paint on their faces, while Furiosa had full-life paint on her face.
-Brendan McCarthy was a huge Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) fan growing up, watching it repeatedly. He even wrote George a fan letter. George hired him when he became known to help work on the story. Brendan wasn't a huge fan of Beyond Thunderdome. He said he had to get George back to the Mad Max mindset, after the Babe and Happy Feet movies.
-George envisioned the story set in the heart of Australia, in the centre of the desert.
Here are some photos:
(Peter Pound and Mark Sexton)
(Peter Pound, Nico Lathouris, George Miller)