It has been 45 years since the first Mad Max dropped, and thanks to George Miller, the franchise is still going strong. With Furiosa earning rave early reviews, which serves as a prequel to the last Mad Max entry Fury Road, the Aussie filmmaker opened up about the evolution of technology over the course of the franchise.
From using celluloid analog back in the day to craft The Road Warrior to shifting to digital for the modern installments in the series, there has been a huge leap in technology over the years. And for Furiosa, Miller opened up about getting inspired by Oscar-winner Bong Joon-ho’s technique.
Incorporating Bong Joon-ho’s Method Proved to Be Fruitful for Furiosa
After garnering a cult following during the 2000s, following the success of Barking Dogs Never Bite and Memories of Murder, Bong Joon-ho made history after winning 4 Academy wins for Parasite. Speaking of the renowned South Korean filmmaker, George Miller revealed that, unlike most filmmakers, the director cuts and assembles his film during the shoot itself.
While the Mad Max creator isn’t sure if it’s common for every Korean director, he did incorporate this method during the making of Furiosa. And per the director, it made a huge difference, as they were “basically getting a really decent cut as you’re going along”.
He told Collider:
The other thing that we did on this film that I’ve never really done before, or only partially done before, I picked it up from Bong Joon-ho. Our great first assistant director, P.J. Voeten, who we worked with together a long time, he worked with Bong on a film in Korea, and he pointed out, and I’m not sure if all the Korean directors do it, but they cut the film, they assemble the film as they’re shooting, and it makes a big difference if you can do that.
This also contributed to fewer deleted scenes, as the acclaimed filmmaker stressed the more he makes movies, the “less deleted scenes” they have.
Furiosa’s Shoot Was Relatively Smoother Compared to Fury Road Said George Miller
Apart from being one of the greatest action films of the 21st century, Fury Road is also synonymous with production trouble, as making the film was quite taxing for the crew and Miller. However, this time around, the process was comparatively easier, as they already had the world established. But considering the story of Furiosa spans over 18 years, as opposed to Fury Road‘s 3 days, “the rhythms had to be different”.
Miller told Rolling Stone:
The shoots are always hard. It was certainly easier for from the point of view of designing, however. We’d already established that world over decades of preparation. It’s just that the rules were different this time around. The story itself was different. We were exercising different muscles. We knew we wanted to have to bump up against the first film since this was a prequel, so there was some reverse engineering involved. Furiosa spans 18 years, whereas Fury Road spans three days — so the rhythms had to be different.
It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for the Wasteland moving forward if the Aussie director chooses to return for another Mad Max release in the future.
Furisoa: A Mad Max Saga is currently playing in theatres.
