Mad Max: Fury Road Is Not Dead, Says Director

Rain causes delay, but not in the way that you might think

So why has production come to a grinding halt on Mad Max: Fury Road for a second time? Blame the rain, says director George Miller, but not in the way you might think. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald George Miller promises that the film will “definitely” get made, that Warner Bros is very much still at full steam ahead on the project, and that the lead stars – Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron – are still on board. The problem is the location: thanks to unexpectedly heavy rain Broken Hill is now a blossoming hill.

“Unfortunately for Mad Max, what was wasteland is now this wonderful flower garden,” says Miller. “We’ve looked at every single nook and cranny in Australia for these specific locations… Broken Hill has become such a base for outback films: you’ve got the infrastructure of the city itself and the treeless plains beyond. Obviously if we go to Namibia or Morocco or Chile it’s a different kettle of fish, but we want to shoot it here.” But unfortunately, for the moment, it’s just not looking sci-fi enough; there’s nothing that says post apocalypse less than a field of daisies. Is this the daftest reason for a filming delay you’ve ever heard?

Miller now says the film should get going in “July at the earliest and more likely September-October”next year. He also hopes to cast Hugh Keays-Byrne to reprise his role of Toecutter from the first Mad Max (which is odd, since he got run over by a truck and looked pretty dead to us).