George Miller is having a heck of a time getting Mad Max back behind the wheel.
The director was all set to begin shooting Mad Max: Fury Road, what would be the fourth film in the franchise that launched Mel Gibson’s career, when torrential rain broke a drought in Broken Hill, Australia, forcing the production into hibernation. After deliberation, Miller and Warner Bros. chose to put the production on hiatus so Miller could focus on Happy Feet 2 and the should-be desert area could escape its current “green” state.
Miller wants his fans and fans of the franchise to understand that Fury Road is not canceled or dead just because it didn’t start shooting in January as originally intended. The movie has been designed, the vehicles built and all the stars including Tom Hardy as Mad Max and Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer are all under contract. They will try again in January 2012 after Hardy has wrapped his work as Bane on The Dark Knight Rises. That is, assuming the weather cooperates and rain stays far away.
Ironically similar weather delays in Broken Hill delayed the start of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior back in 1980. That film was the first in the series set in a post-apocalyptic world brought to life by the Broken Hill location.
Source: Daily Telegraph
