20 facts you might not know about 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'

Miller, and also Nico Lathouris, who co-wrote “Fury Road,” spent 15 years on the screenplay for that magnum opus. In the process, every character was given an extensive backstory, and obviously Furiosa needed more backstory than most. In fact, Miller and Lathouris wrote a whole prequel screenplay about Furiosa, which served as the basis for “Furiosa,” though changes were made to make it a proper, filmable screenplay. This script was used as inspiration for Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in “Fury Road.”

Miller has noted that his franchise has “no strict chronology.” However, he does keep something nebulous in his head. To that end, when pressed, Miller at least was willing to say that “Furiosa” “probably” takes place just after the events of “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” at least early on. “Furiosa” takes place over a span of 15 years, after all.

It would be fair to call Miller a “maniac,” but we mean that is a good way. Think about the over-the-top majesty of “Fury Road.” Think about the ambition of “Furiosa.” Now think about the fact that, originally, Miller wanted to shoot these two movies back-to-back, and he didn’t change his mind until pre-production on “Fury Road” began. Then, with “Furiosa” on the back burner, Miller considered handing the script for the movie over to director Mahiro Maeda to turn it into an anime film, but that didn’t happen either.

Between the COVID-19 pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike, over the last few years movie delays have been common. However, “Furiosa” was delayed back in 2017. So what happened? Miller and his production company sued Warner Bros. over a salary dispute related to “Fury Road.” This dispute lasted until 2020, and not until it was settled could the idea of making “Furiosa” be broached again.

Miller is like a lot of directors, in that he enjoys working with the same actors, and the same crew, as much as possible. The “Mad Max” series is filled with Australian actors playing different supporting roles. In “Furiosa,” John Howard, Nathan Jones, and Angus Sampson all reprised roles from “Fury Road.” Miller also brought back the same producer, costume designer, composer, production designer, sound mixer, and editor, though editor Margaret Sixel is also Miller’s wife, so if she had not returned it would have been a surprise.

Miller had worked with cinematographer John Seale on “Lorenzo’s Oil,” and managed to coax the Australian Oscar winner out of retirement to work on “Fury Road,” which earned him a fifth Oscar nomination. Miller even got Seale to work on “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” the bonkers genie movies he made between “Mad Max Saga” movies. That was enough, though. Seale retired for good this time, and Simon Duggan got the call to serve as cinematographer on “Furiosa.”

Theron earned rave reviews for her turn as Furiosa, the most-significant new character to the world of “Mad Max,” in “Fury Road.” However, “Furiosa” is a prequel that was being shot years after “Fury Road” was finished. Miller did not want to use de-aging technology to make Theron look younger, fearing the Uncanny Valley, and so he chose to recast. This disappointed a lot of people, including Theron. While she understood the reasoning, she also called the situation “a little heartbreaking.”

If you’re Edgar Wright, why wouldn’t you want a legendary director like Miller to see an early cut of one of your movies? Miller was able to see “Last Night in Soho” early, and he was struck by Anya Taylor-Joy’s work in that film. While several actresses auditioned for Furiosa, Miller’s affinity for Taylor-Joy in “Last Night in Soho” played a big role. Meanwhile, the even-younger Furiosa, Alyla Browne, had worked on “Three Thousand Years of Longing.”

It’s not unusual for the casting process to keep the script in secrecy. Often, actors only get a limited snippet, but Miller took things to another level when it came to the anticipated “Furiosa.” Actors, including Taylor-Joy, were given the famed “Mad as Hell” speech from “Network” to audition with.

When casting was announced in October 2020, one of the actors announced was Yaya Abdul-Mateen II. He was cast in the sizable role of Praetorian Jack, who has a crucial relationship with Furiosa. Alas, scheduling got in the way, and Abdul-Mateen II had to drop out. He was then replaced by Tom Burke.

Hugh Keays-Byrne was one of the “George Miller players” for many years, including playing the main antagonist in both “Fury Road” and “Mad Max.” Alas, Keays-Byrne died in 2020, leaving Miller without an Immortan Joe. Originally, the director was going to use a body double and use ADR for the voice. However, Lachy Hulme, who was playing the small role of Rizzdale Pell, also had an idea. He could replicate the eyes and voice of Immortan Joe. Miller let him do it, and Hulme ended up playing both Rizzdale Pell and Immortan Joe.

Hemsworth is Australian, and grew up on the “Mad Max” movies. He also auditioned to play Max in “Fury Road.” At the time, though, he was a total unknown. “Thor” had not come out yet, after all. Tom Hardy got that role, but the now-famous Hemsworth was now looking for a chance to shed his movie star image. That led to him being cast as Dementus.

Accustomed to being super ripped to play the God of Thunder, playing a warlord in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is the same thing. Hemsworth cut his calorie intake in half compared to playing Thor to prepare to play Dementus. He got some prosthetic help to disappear into the role, including a notable fake nose, but the actor brought some things to the role as well. The voice of Dementus, for example, was partially based on his grandfather, but also on the squawking of a seagull.

Left to his own devices, Miller shoots his movies in his native Australia. That was the case for the first three “Mad Max” movies. Because of the weather in Australia, though, “Fury Road” was shot in Namibia. This time, weather was kinder to Miller, and “Furiosa” was shot in the Land Down Under.

Dementus is the most-loquacious character in the “Mad Max” universe, but these characters tend to be laconic in nature. Taylor-Joy is in a lot of the movie, but her character speaks about 30 lines of dialog. Weeks would go by where she didn’t say a single word on camera. Taylor-Joy said that she had “never been more alone than making that movie” and once when pressed about the shooting said to “Talk to me in 20 years.”

“Fury Road” is famed for its practical effects. CGI plays a bigger role in “Furiosa,” though. Much of that was about facial manipulation. Taylor-Joy’s face was mapped so that they could make Browne look more like her as young Furiosa. That included manipulating Browne’s eyes a bit to look more like Taylor-Joy’s distinct, trademark peepers.

When Warner Bros. debuted a five-minute extended preview of “Furiosa,” they announced that the movie would be broken up into three story segments. When the movie eventually came out, that number had changed to five segments. Notably, none of the chapters in the final version shared a title with the three originally announced.

“Fury Road” was a huge hit. “Furiosa” got good reviews. People expected the prequel to succeed big time. That didn’t end up happening. “Furiosa” was a Memorial Day weekend release, kicking off the summer movie season. It made a mere $32.3 million domestically, falling short of the projected $40 million. In total it made $67.5 million domestically and $172.8 million worldwide. That was off of a budget of $168 million. It’s not all on “Furiosa,” though. The 2024 Memorial Day weekend was the lowest overall domestically since 1995.

“Variety” reported that “Furiosa” would need to make $350 million worldwide to break even for Warner Bros. when factoring in marketing. While studios often partake in Hollywood accounting, Warner Bros. disagreed with that being the break-even point. It likely helped that Australia’s government and the state of New South Wales’ government covered half the budget of “Furiosa.” Additionally, apparently it has been quite successful in the video-on-demand realm. “Furiosa” could turn a profit yet!

“Furiosa” isn’t the only prequel Miller had in mind. For years he has also talked about making “The Wasteland,” a prequel focused on Max. However, Miller noted he had not written the “Wasteland” screenplay yet, and that he wanted to see how “Furiosa” turned out. Not well, evidently! Tom Hardy was asked about “The Wasteland” after “Furiosa” came out, and he said he doesn’t expect it to happen. Miller is also an older man now. We shall see how much more, if anything, we get in the world of Mad Max and Furiosa.