As Mad Max: Fury Road proves, sequels and reboots don’t have to be the death of cinema. It helps that you have a master filmmaker like George Miller at the helm, but Fury Road is as much an original film as it is a part of a franchise, with Miller opting to twist the action genre on its head by crafting an entire movie out of a single chase sequence. It’s a masterpiece pure and simple, and given that we live in an age dominated by franchises, fans were understandably clamoring for more Fury Road as soon as the movie was over.
The production troubles that plagued Mad Max: Fury Road verge on the status of legend at this point, and since the movie was pushed back so many times due to weather and budget constraints, Miller and his team had plenty of time to sit around and think about how the story might continue. The director previously revealed that they already have not one but two follow-ups scripted (in one form or another) and ready to go, Mad Max: Furiosa and Mad Max: Wasteland. Now, following the success of Fury Road, Miller confirms in an interview with Top Gear (via BMD) that the studio is discussing the reality of another Mad Max movie:
"[Fury Road] was green lit three times and fell over three times over a decade. We went to shoot with Mel Gibson back in 2001, but then 9/11 happened, and the American dollar collapsed against the Australian dollar close to 30 per cent, so we lost that amount of budget overnight. We were then rained out of Australia. The desert rained for the first time in 15 years, and we ended up in South West Africa, Namibia.
But in this process, we had dug down deep into the backstory, not only of the characters, but of every vehicle. How the steering wheels became religious artefacts and things like that. So we ended up with two scripts, without really trying. We’re talking to the studio [Warner Bros] about it as we speak, but which one of the two stories will happen next, I’m not so sure.”
So yes, Warner Bros. is definitely interested in another Mad Max movie—which is excellent news. Though I’ll be honest, I will be totally fine with or without a Fury Road follow-up. That movie stands alone as one of the best films in recent memory, so if that’s that, I’m completely appeased. And if Miller wants to make another film, whether it lives up to the quality of Fury Road or not, I’ll be happy to see what he puts together.
However, reiterating comments he made the other day, Miller says he doesn’t want to go straight into another Mad Max movie. He wants to make something less intense first:
“I want to do a small film without special effects before I do any of that, just to do it quickly. We shot Fury Road for eight months… that’s a lot. Every day in the heat and the dust, doing these stunts, it’s very wearing. We’ve got two more planned, but at some point in the future.”
I’d say Miller’s earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants for his next picture, and I’ll be first in line to see it.
