Warner Bros. brought out the big guns on stage in the second night of CinemaCon with previews of their upcoming slate, including the return of the Mad Max franchise with the prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Series mastermind George Miller was in attendance at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas alongside stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth for a panel to discuss the hotly-anticipated post-apocalyptic spinoff and share an extended preview ahead of its May 24 release in theaters. During their discussion, however, he teased that there may be more story to tell revolving around Max Rockatansky before the release of Mad Max: Fury Road.
When asked about how Imperator Furiosa came to have a spinoff, Miller revealed that he had penned two stories during the production delays of Fury Road to flesh out its world and help the crew convey its history on-screen. One of those tales was the script for Furiosa which, of course, tells her backstory of being taken by the Biker Horde and the cruel warlord Dementus (Hemsworth) and fighting through the hardships of the Wasteland in the middle of a power struggle between Dementus and the Immortan Joe (Tom Burke). It was crafted to show how Furiosa was hardened into the moral leader seen in Fury Road during her journey home well before meeting Max. The other story, however, was a novella following Max taking place a year before the 2015 film.
Although he didn’t delve into the details of what the novella contained, he explained his mindset behind crafting such intricate backstories for a film that, ultimately, spans very little time relative to everything else the characters have been through. He also teased how the success of Fury Road paved the way for Furiosa and could potentially lead to another story coming to the big screen:
“In order to tell the story of Fury Road , which happens over a short period of time, three days and two nights, [we had] a lot of exposition to get through. We had to understand everything about what we see on the screen. Not only the backstory of every character, but every prop, every vehicle, every gesture. We wrote the story of Furiosa in the 15 or 16 years of her life before we meet her in Fury Road . We wrote a story about Max in the year before he got there, and so much else who the Immortan Joe was and so on. One was a screenplay, Furiosa , and the other was a novella. We did it just for the actors and particularly the crew, so they could understand where they’re coming from. So, when [ Fury Road ] worked, my thought was, gee, this is a rich story to tell.”
There’s Plenty of ‘Mad Max’ to Explore Beyond ‘Furiosa’
If another Fury Road prequel does indeed happen, there are plenty of directions Miller and company could go. Max‘s journey in the post-apocalyptic epic to defy Joe sees him haunted by the ghosts of those he failed to save, backstories for which are explored in comics and the 2015 video game. Another film could explore similar ground or chronicle how the series’s titular survivor crossed paths with the Immortan Joe. In the meantime, the focus is on Furiosa which also features Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, John Howard, and Charlee Fraser among its cast.
Furiosa is set to open the 2024 Cannes Film Festival before arriving in theaters on May 24.
via Collider