Mad Max: Fury Road – Has Director George Miller Sold Out?

Ever since this movie ended its shoot in Namibia, Africa, we’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about it and have received some ‘tips’ here and there.  Some of it is bullshit and some of it is clearly accurate and likely but unconfirmed.  One of the things about this movie is that it’s pretty much an enigma, Miller won’t tell us anything about it.  Particularly the script.  I’ve had suspicions for a while as to why that is.  I think we have a serious problem here – this movie is going to be PG-13.  I can’t confirm it but I can’t say it any plainer than that.

This movie has been around for many years in some form of development, maybe up to 20 years.  A hardcore Rated-R script was the blueprint, one that was written for Mel Gibson.  Basically a brutal action movie in vein of Mad Max and Mad Max 2.  The wheels eventually started rolling in 2002 and Mel Gibson was set to reprise his role.  They even built a V8 Interceptor for him and the movie.  The movie was to be filmed in Africa.  I even remember Mel saying that now was the time to do it, before he ‘got too many wrinkles on my forehead’.  But then the invasion of Iraq happened, and the planned 2003 shoot was delayed as the chaos in the Middle East affected Millers logistics in Africa.  At that point, Mel pulled out (remember, he left acting completely too).  The movie was canned until 2009.

The thing is, while it’s the same movie… it’s an 80% certainty that that Rated-R script is gone.

The cast and crew of this movie is huge.  Now, they’re in Australia.  And with such a big number of employees, they’re going to start talking.  Something I’ve heard before, I am now hearing again – Miller’s deal to make the movie involved tearing up the Rated-R script and rejigging it as a family movie, or at least a ‘family-friendly action movie’.  Miller supposedly said yes, threw the old script in the trash and went to work on a movie kids could also see that featured Tom Hardy and other adjustments.  Bigger sites aren’t hearing about this, aren’t caring about it or both.  They’re keen to repeat Miller’s words but not putting 2+2 together and protest the idea of turning Mad Max into Mellow Maximilian

This falls in line with an exclusive recent report we put up about the worrying addition of  27 children to the cast.  This is allegedly to facilitate a story of ‘lost’ children living in slums under the thumb of a tyrant.  What’s worse, the agency contracted to bring in the children usually works for Australian soap Home And Away, a TV show aimed primarily at 11 year old girls.  They (the Bettina casting agency) don’t even specialize in hiring child actors – they find children and youngsters suitable for modelling material then convert them into ‘actors’ for the glossy preteen drama.  It just gives horrible flashbacks to that ultra shitty sequence from Thunderdome (PG-13) with those weird kids.  Sorry Mel, but not even you made that watchable…

Then there’s the cost, at a huge $100,000,000+ budget, this thing is never going to be a Rated-R – thus not true to its DNA.  It’s not just that the budget is huge – the project also faced huge losses.  Miller said last week that the movie was ‘supposed to’ start shooting in Australia, then head to Africa and return to Australia.  What he didn’t mention is that the movie hemorrhaged significant funds during its original shoot in Australia – for example an entire highway was constructed to run the Interceptor on, and yet the entire sequence was scrapped.  How much does it cost to build a road that won’t even appear in the movie?  Enough to piss off executives, I’m sure.

If we put it all together, the rumors, the facts, the current trend of old hardcore movies going big and soft, and if we apply some simple logic – all roads lead to George Miller selling out.  Mad Max absolutely must not be PG-13.  If the studio told Miller that Rated-R was not possible, he should have said no deal.  We could’ve lived with no Mel Gibson.  We can’t live with Fast & Furious meets Tomorrow When The War Began. We should have an interview coming up with Quentin Kenihan soon, who is part of the cast.  Maybe he can assuage fears, although whether he’ll want to talk to us after this article is another matter.  But we won’t avoid telling it like it is even if it costs us PR opportunities. We don’t want it to be true, and if we hear anything that remotely points to the contrary, we’ll report it here.  But it looks like it is. 

It looks like George Miller has sold out.