Mad Max: Fury Road – 8 things you probably didn’t know about the movie


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Mad Max – Fury Road has hit theaters the world over with a tremendous reverberation of all out, mindless action, visually stunning desert locales and gut wrenching gore; thank goodness they stayed true to the originals! Of course that’s largely thanks to the director remaining unchanged through all four movies. But there’s a lot going on in Fury Road that pays homage to the original Mel Gibson era of Mad Max and should you still be waiting around to watch the flick, I suggest you quit reading right here as spoilers follow in gusto as we outline some of the major easter eggs and interesting snippets that Fury Road showcases. If you’ve already seen the mayhem onscreen then perhaps this will simply enlighten you, so without further ado –

8 – Originally, Miller planned on shooting the film in Australia’s Broken Hills area of New South Wales. Due to an unusual amount of rain that was prevalent in the region over a period of time, before filming began, the desert was transformed into a rather beautiful and highly vegetated landscape forcing the film to move to the Namib Desert in Namibia on the African continent, which was naturally more appropriate for the post apocalyptic setting of the film.

7 – Contrary to popular belief and the movie’s name, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is actually the main protagonist in the movie. The feminist themes playing out in the film incorporate this very well and lay out a very well constructed female hero who undoubtedly steals the show and simultaneously proves to be the year’s biggest female hero so far. Sorry Scarlet.

6 – This one will take very keen eye to spot, but when Hardy’s Max is being branded by the War Boys in the first half of the film, if you can pick it out you might notice “Road Warrior” inked onto his skin as part of the text. Now isn’t that interesting.

5 – Hardy’s Max is also wearing the same leather jacket (with the sleeve missing), in some parts of the film, which is worn by Gibson’s character in the first movie. Hardy even has a leg brace that shows up in a couple of scenes that is reminiscent of the one Gibson wore. This can be very confusing for the timeline. And it gets worse when his iconic V8 Interceptor also makes a brief and destructive appearance.

4 – Another rather interesting bit of fan bait can be noticed when Hardy’s Max is wielding a sawed off shotgun that misfires. This is eerily similar to Gibson’s version in Road Warrior. Clearly Max has tremendous bad luck when it comes to that type of weapon.

3 – Gibson’s Max is seen winding up a little music box that was given to him by the Feral Kid in Road Warrior and the same music box also appears in Fury Road with Toast the Knowing. Of course the timeline is heavily skewed so it’s safe to assume it’s just fan bait.

2 – Bruce Spence who plays Gyro Captain in Road Warrior and Thunderdome also makes a brief appearance of sorts… at least it seems like his remains do. In a scene which features Hardy’s Max strapped to the front a vehicle, a skull still bearing the unmistakable cap and goggles as worn by the good Captain can be seen just above Max’s head. It’s a bit of a bummer as it might have been so much better were he there “in the flesh”.

1 – Aside from George Miller retaining his position as Director, actor Hugh Keays-Byrne who played big baddie Toecutter from the original Mad Max, also happens to be the primary antagonist in Fury Road – Immortan Joe. Although you may not recognise him you might recognize his bulging eyes that appear in one of Max’s flashback sequences; this is actually a direct pick up from the original movie (no edits) when Toecutter meets his gory end.