100 facts about Mad Max

1. The Iraq war meant that filming had to be delayed in Namibia.
2. The film was supposed to be an animated 3D film, but developed into a 3D live action movie.
3. Filming was delayed twice.
4. The filming first concluded in 2001.
5. In 2013, they had to go back and film additional scenes.
6. In 2003, Warner Bros panicked and insisted that someone write a script for the film.
7. In 2010, stars signed up to be in the film.
8. The film was originally going to be filmed at Broken Hill, but moved to Namibia after consistent heavy rainfall occurred. 
9. $7.5 million was spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks led by MTV and Comedy Central.
10. Crew spent 10 months in Namibia to film.Although rumors originally stated that Mel Gibson was featuring in a cameo role, playing a character called "Drifter" it was denied by Miller, who claimed it "would have been nice", but was not true.In fact this drifter character was meant to be a background character seen in the Barter town Settlement. Due to the fact that Barter Town is not featured in this movie, Mel Gibson's proposed "drifter character" could not be put into the movie.
11. Mad Max Fury Road is the longest of the movies, at 120 minutes, with the shortest being the first Mad Max at 93 minutes.
12. Max drives his interceptor in Fury Road for only 30 seconds
13. Over 80% of the effects seen in the film are real practical effects, stunts, make-up and sets. CGI was used sparingly mainly to enhance the Namibian landscape, remove stunt rigging and for Charlize Theron's left hand which in the film is a prosthetic arm
14. The flame-shooting guitarist is Australian artist/musician Sean Hape, better known asIota. In an interview on Vice (2013), he said the guitar weighed 132 pounds, and shot real gas-powered flames, which he controlled using the whammy bar.
15. In creating the look of the film, director George Miller laid down two stipulations for the production to follow. Firstly the cinematography would be as colorful as possible in order to differentiate the film from other post apocalyptic movies which typically have bleak desaturated colors. Secondly the art direction would be as beautiful as possible, as Miller reasoned that people living in the post apocalypse would try to find whatever scraps of beauty they could in their meager environment.
16. On April 3, 2015, Tom Hardy announced he would sign on for 3 more Mad Max films.
17. The film editor, Margaret Sixel, is director George Miller's wife. When she asked her husband why he thought she should do it as she had never edited an action film before, Miller replied, "Because if a guy did it, it would look like every other action movie."
18. The jacket worn by Tom Hardy is a replica of the one worn by Mel Gibson in the second two movies of the original trilogy. The Gibson jacket was found in storage at Kennedy-Miller and copied heavily.
19. Instead of the reboot being a remake of Mad Max (1979), revealing how Max Rockantasky became The Road Warrior, George Miller decided that the reboot will take place in the post-apocalyptic Australia, years after the new Max (Tom Hardy) lost his family, because he did not wish to do a remake or retell the story that had already been told and had wanted to update the universe and the wasteland and wanted new moviegoers to remember Max as a man with nothing to lose after losing his family.
20. According to George Miller the film's storyboard was made even before the screenplay. The reason behind that was because Miller envisioned the film as a continuous chase, with little dialogue and focusing on the visuals. The storyboard was made with the collaboration of five artists and had about 3,500 panels.
21. To prepare themselves to go into battle, ready to sacrifice their lives for Immortan Joe, the War Boys spray their lips and teeth with a silver substance, very much like common spray paint. Both the War Boys and Immortan Joe often speak about this as though it is a religious ritual, saying that it will allow them to enter "the gates of Valhalla, shiny and chrome". However, in a May 2015 interview with CraveOnline, actorHugh Keays-Byrne, who plays Immortan Joe, said that this practice, which the War Boys think is purely ritualistic, actually involves the inhalation of "...a very euphoric drug" that keeps the War Boys high and suicidally devoted to Immortan Joe. Another clue to the spray's narcotic properties is the fact that "chrome" and "chroming" are Australian slang terms for inhalant abuse. Writer/director George Miller said that he got the idea for this from Australian filmmaker David Bradbury's 1981 Vietnam War documentary "Front Line", in which Cambodian soldiers preparing for battle suspend small jade figurines of Buddha from their mouths with little straps.
22. In a Cannes press conference for the movie, Tom Hardy apologized to George Miller for the reportedly complicated relationship between the star and the director during filming. He stated: "There was no way, I mean, I have to apologize to you because I got frustrated. There was no way George could have explained what he could see in the sand when we were out there. Because of the due diligence that was required to make everything safe and so simple, what I saw was a relentless barrage of complexities, simplified for this fairly linear story. I knew he was brilliant, but I didn't know how brilliant until I saw it. So, my first reaction was 'Oh my god, I owe George an apology for being so myopic.'"
23. This is the second Mad Max featuring Hugh Keays-Byrne. He played the villain Toecutter in Mad Max (1979).
24. Charlize Theron reportedly shaved her head for the role of Furiosa and as a result had to wear a wig for her role in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).
25. The older actresses playing the Vuvalini did their own stunts.
26. Tom Hardy suffered a broken nose during filming when Charlize Theron accidentally elbowed him. She was wearing a green cast at the time which was used as a background for graphics artists to digitally remove Furiosa's arm.
27. According to Tom Hardy, he had lunch with Mel Gibson to discuss him taking over the iconic role of Max Rockatansky. Gibson told him that he was fine with it, and gave Hardy his blessing.
28. Margaret Sixel had 480 hours of footage to edit; watching it took three months.
29. The cake-decorating company Wilton makes a decorative "Color Mist" in silver that is meant to be sprayed onto baked goods to give them a silver sheen. Before May 2015, the Amazon listing for this product contained a few pages of reviews only from bakers opining on the quality of the product when used as intended (on cakes). But after the release of Mad Max: Fury Road, both the comments section and FAQ on the Amazon listing were filled with comments from users posting as though they were War Boys or Immortan Joe "reviewing" the product that the War Boys spray onto their mouths before going into battle. As of mid-June 2015, there are nineteen pages of Mad Max-related "reviews" of the Wilton product on Amazon.
30. Originally intended to star Mel Gibson in the title role back in 2003 but because George Miller ran into problems with shooting locations, and Gibson's interest in The Passion of the Christ (2004), it never happened.
31. Even though it is an independent movie in the series, it has references to other Mad Max pictures: the opening shot resembles the beginning of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and the music box one of the wives carries is a nod to the music box Max gives the Feral Kid in the same movie. When Max suggests to Furiosa and the other women that they turn the rig around and drive back to where they have just come from this is a nod to Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), as is Max's misfiring shotgun and when Max first approaches Furiosa with an unconscious body over his shoulder. He has a metallic brace on his leg just like in Mad Max 2, which is normally worn because of a pelvic injury and was presumably worn in that film because of the injury he sustains being hit by the motorcycle at the end of the previous film Mad Max(1979).
32. The gesture made by the war boys when they mesh their fingers together is the sign of the V8; they literally revere and worship the power of the engine. It may also be viewed as a reference to Valhalla.
33. John Seale came out of retirement to head the film's cinematography.
34. A comic book series showing how Immortan Joe came to power is being published by Vertigo.
35. The movie was almost filmed in 2003 on location in Namibia but the project was put on hold due to security concerns related to trying to film in Namibia, because the United States and many other countries had tightened travel and shipping restrictions. With the start of the Iraq War the film was abandoned until 2009.
36. As in the previous movies in this series, many characters' names are never said in full or at all onscreen and are only provided in the credits.
37. George Miller told cinematographer John Seale to keep the main actor centered in the screen so that the viewer's eye did not have to search the screen due to the film's fast editing style. According to Seale, Miller said "Keep the crosshairs on her nose!" Seale, used to composing an anamorphic shot took a while to get used to this technique. He was not used to actors being cut off in the edges of the frame.
38. Max and the main antagonist, Immortan Joe, never directly interact with each other, apart from when Max hijacks the People Eater's Limousine. They exchange gunshots during the takeover.
39. Mel Gibson was at the Cannes premiere and apparently approved the movie. According to director George Miller: "Mel was at the premiere of the movie and I sat next to him. We hadn't seen each other in a long time. Mel is someone who, in a sense, cannot lie. And he started chuckling during the movie and I thought, There's that chuckle I remember! Mel kept chuckling and he started digging me in the ribs. . . . He gave me great perspective because he is a great actor, but in the end he is a really great director."
40. The 78-year old Melissa Jaffer explained why she took a part in the film: "When this role came along, I thought well, I won't get another chance like this before I die, and that's why I took it. It was absolutely wonderful".
41. There is a fan theory that Mad Max in this film is actually the Feral Kid from the second film, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981). Max does not speak very much in this film, and he grunts a lot like the Feral Kid. He also has a music box, like the one that Max gives the Feral Kid in the second film. However, a Vertigo comic miniseries cowritten by George Miller establishes that Hardy's Max is the same character as Mel Gibson's Max.
42. The film used three identical War Rigs, the large main truck in the film. They were based on a Czechoslovakian all-wheel drive military vehicle.
43. The script contains almost no profanities. The Dag abuses Max by saying, "He's a crazy smeg who eats schlanger." The use of the word 'smeg' echoes its use in the TV seriesRed Dwarf (1988), where it was used as an alternative for various expletives. There was almost no swearing in the earlier Mad Max movies, either. Schlange is German for snake.
44. In the German-dubbed version seen in Germany, as in the original English version, the Buzzards speak Russian. In the Russian-dubbed version seen in Russia, they speak German. This way, they sound foreign and evil to everyone.
45. When Max is tied to the front of Nux's car, there is a skull with a pilot's cap and goggles on a spike above him. This is a reference to the Gyro Captain, who appeared in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).
46. Riley Keough, the actress who plays the red-haired bride, Capable, is daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and grand-daughter of Elvis Presley.
47. While on location in Africa filming Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) in June 2012, Dayna Porter, the stunt double for Charlize Theron, and Dane Grant, the rehearsal double forTom Hardy, met, fell in love, and, in March 2013, got married. In February 2014, they had their first child, a son named Ryder. Dayna, who changed her last name to Grant after the marriage, founded a school in New Zealand for training stunt performers, and has performed stunts in other projects based in New Zealand, such as Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995). Another stunt performer in the film also met his spouse on the set: in February 2015, stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen married actress Riley Keough, who played Capable.
48. Writer and feminist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) was consulted to enhance the portrayal of female characters.
49. The "crows" on stilts are the boys abandoned by the Vuvalini when the green place turned sour.
50. George Miller directed the entire Mad Max action franchise, noted for its violence. Ironically, he is also director of three family friendly movies: the second of the Babe movies, Babe: Pig in the City (1998), and both Happy Feet movies, Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet 2 (2011).
51. Director George Miller has written a background story for The Doof Warrior, the heavy metal musician, played by Australian singer/songwriter Sean Hape (AKA Iota), playing the flame-shooting electric guitar on The Doof Wagon.
52. Night scenes were filmed in bright daylight, deliberately overexposed, and colour-manipulated. In many shots, the sky was digitally replaced with more detailed or interesting skies.
53. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley remarked that the cast and crew fraternized a lot after work during the shoot since they were all residing in a small Namibia town (the nearest to the desert) without any tourist attractions or fine dining.
54. Near the end of the credits there is a memorial dedication that reads "Lance Allen Moore II, May 24, 1987 - March 10, 2015." Moore was a Mad Max fan killed in a motorcycle accident near Silverton, New South Wales, Australia, where Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) was filmed.
55. Several vehicles, including The War Rig, Immortan Joe's double-decker 1959 Cadillac DeVille
56. Gigahorse, The People Eater's Mercedes-Benz Limousine, and The Bullet Farmer's Valiant Charger Peacemaker, as well as The Doof Warrior's Doof Wagon and many of the vehicles driven by the War Boys, are left-hand drive. The appearance of left-hand drive vehicles is a first in the Mad Max movies. The previous films featured only Australian vehicles, which are right-hand drive, such as the rigs seen in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Max's famous 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT V8 Pursuit Special (aka The Interceptor), seen in Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (and this film).
57. The budget for this film is estimated to be between US$100 million and $150 million, while the converted budget for the original Mad Max (1979) is placed at around $316,620. That means that without inflation, the budget between the two films increased by well over three hundred times. (With inflation, the difference is 100 - 150x.)
58. The first Mad Max film where Max is credited by his full name Max Rockatansky.
59. This is the second Mad Max film for screenwriter Nick Lathouris. As an actor, he played a brief role in Mad Max (1979).
60. Former SAS soldier Jon Iles, who played the War Boy named The Ace, also headed a security team on the film's set to ensure the safety of the cast, crew, and their families.
61. Jeremy Renner campaigned for the role of Mad Max. At one point the film's long development, Michael Biehn was considered for the role of Max Rockatansky, as were Channing Tatum and Heath Ledger, before his untimely death in 2008. Sam Worthington stated that, like Eric Bana, he has never been approached for the role of Mad Max, despite widespread rumors that circulated the web following the film's announcement.James Frecheville auditioned for a part.
62. Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy reportedly did not get along during filming, with Hardy's Method acting reportedly bothering Theron.
63. At the final vehicle battle, one of the Immortan Joe's henchmen scares Furiosa, before attacking her, with the exact same hiss as the Toecutter in Mad Max (1979).
64. This is director George Miller's first R-rated movie since The Witches of Eastwick(1987).
65. Quentin Kenihan, the actor playing Corpus Colossus, is disabled in real life (he ha
66. osteogenesis imperfecta). No prosthetics, puppets or special effects were used, the only alterations to Mr. Kenihan were makeup.
67. First 'Mad Max' movie since Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), a gap of thirty years.
68. The paracord bracelet that Max wears belongs to Tom Hardy himself.
69. Nicholas Hoult learned how to knit from a makeup artist during the seven-month shoot in Namibia.
70. With a runtime of two hours, this is the longest film in the Mad Max series.
71. The character Toast the Knowing is named after visual effects crew member Shyam V. Yadav, who is known for serving free French toast (and hugs) to thousands of people all over the world.
72. In a July 2014 interview at San Diego Comic-Con International, George Miller said he designed the film in storyboard form before writing the screenplay, working with five storyboard artists. It came out as about 3,500 panels, almost the same number of shots as in the finished film. He wanted the film to be almost a continuous chase, with relatively little dialogue, and to have the visuals come first. Paraphrasing Alfred Hitchcock, Miller said that he wanted the film to be understood in Japan without the use of subtitles.
73. Actors were digitally duplicated in post production to expand the crowd scenes so in reality only a few actors were actually needed on set during filming.
74. An R-rated version and a PG-13 version had been made. After test screenings, Warner Bros had decided to release the R-rated version.
75. Tom Hardy had a dog named Max that was given to him when he was a teenager, he passed away in 2011. The dog's name was an honor to Mad Max (1979). Years later, Hardy played the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road.
76. Tom Hardy had been considered for the role of John Connor in another reboot,Terminator Genisys (2015). James Cameron, the director and creator of the "Terminator" franchise had cited Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) as one of his influences behind The Terminator (1984).
77. Second unit director and supervising stunt coordinator Guy Norris was in charge of over 150 stunt performers, which included Cirque du Soleil performers and Olympic athletes.
78. Megan Gale, who plays The Valkyrie, was previously cast as Wonder Woman in George Miller's film Justice League: Mortal before it was canceled. This is her first Hollywood film.
79. When Max awakes abruptly from his dream right after the blue sequence, the last image of his dream is a close view of eyes popping out of a face. This footage is fromMad Max (1979), when Toecutter is killed.
80. Although the character Mad Max is an Australian, he has yet to be played by an Australian actor. Mel Gibson, the first Mad Max, although raised in Australia, was born in the USA. And Tom Hardy, the second Mad Max, was born in England.
81. George Miller is proud that the film's chase scenes were done practically. He said the toughest, most complex shot was of the War Rig flipping, blocking off a chasm, and freeing Max and Furiosa to head to Joe's Citadel. Initially, he felt there was no way he could ask a stuntman to flip the vehicle, so he looked into other options, including CGI and model work, before brave soul Lee Adamson volunteered. He did it in one take.
82. The crossed belts that the Valkyrie, played by Megan Gale, wears are the same belts Max wore in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). The brass belt buckle has been covered or replaced.
83. Certain screenings have shown the film in black & white. There was a rumour that this print would appear on the home video release, and that George Miller tried to press Warner Bros to include it, but it doesn't appear that's going to happen.
84. The girl who Max sees in his visions, commonly believed to be his daughter, is in fact Glory the Child, who can be seen in the comic series. It can also be noted that she is seen being run down in a desert by a selection of vehicles, while Max's child was killed by a biker gang prior to the war.
85. George Miller cited Akira (1988) as an inspiration for what he wanted to do with the franchise.
86. George Miller described the film as "a very simple allegory, almost a western on wheels".
87. When Engine #1 of the War Rig breaks down during the final chase to The Citadel, the sound it makes is the same sound the Millennium Falcon makes when it breaks down inStar Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
88. The only film in the Mad Max series where the last road battle does not end in a head-on collision between two vehicles and a main antagonist is killed in the process.
89. With the exception of Max and Nux, all of the film's male characters are villains. Conversely, all of the female characters are good.
90. In the last scene of the movie, Furiosa's eye is swollen shut as a result of injury, the same as Max's is at the end of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).
91. In a likely reference, Nux crashes the War Rig in the same way the tanker crashes at the end of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).
92. Body Count: 114
93. When Max asks Nux if he's a "blackthumb" and can fix Engine #1 while they are on the War Rig may be a reference to the character Blackfinger from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), who is the chief mechanic in Bartertown.
94. The last image is of Furiosa rising into Joe's Citadel, Max having melted into the crowds. George Miller disclosed: "Very early on, I had [Max] going up to the top of the Citadel with them. But Tom Hardy picked that up very early - Max would never go. He wasn't even remotely ready for that. We end on the idea of Furiosa and the others taking over all the resources. It asks the question: are they going to do any better?"
95. After the War Rig is driven off the platform and the platform begins to rise as it is drawn back up into The Citadel, a lone woman can be seen standing in the center. In the previous wide-angle shot of the crowd, The Wretched were shown begging for a place in Immortan Joe's coterie. This woman, played by Debra Ades, was likely brought aboard to be used as a milker or breeder.
96. A deleted scene shows Miss Giddy's fate; she is left with Angharad's body, and attacked by crows (the crows were never added).
97. The music box Toast the Knowing is playing is similar to the one seen in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), which Max pulls off a body in a wrecked truck and later gives to the Feral Kid.
98. Charlize Theron will not return as Imperator Furiosa for Mad Max: The Wasteland. The "Mad Max" films are influenced by the western genre and like the mysterious gunfighter, Max leaves and moves on to an entirely new adventure.
99. In one of the scenes the War Rig has a collision with a black Mack tractor unit. The same style of Mack tractor unit was featured in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) to pull the fuel tanker trailer.;