100 Facts About Mad Max

1. The invasion (yes invasion) and subsequent war in which country stopped filming? Iran and Saudi Arabia
2. What TWO formats was the film originally going to be in to only then NOT be in? It was supposed to be an animated 3D film but it ended up being a 3D live action film.
3. How many times was filming delayed? Twice
4. In which year did filming first conclude? November 2001
5. In what year did they have to go back and film additional scenes? November 2013
6. At what point did Warner Bros panic and insist someone write a script? When John Seale joined the cast in around about 2003
7. When did the stars sign up to be in the film? Every cast member was in place by 2010
8. Where was the film originally going to be produced only for it to rain! Broken Hill in New South Wales of Australia
9. How much was spent on TV adverts? $7.5 million
10. How long did crew spend in Namibia? Most of them spent 10 months there.
11. There was a $150 million budget.
12. George Miller was 70 years old when he made the film.
13. John Seale and his crew chose to shoot principal photography with ARRI Alexa cameras and capture with Codex Onboard Recorders.
14. Six ARRI Alexas and a number of Canon 5Ds and 11 Codex Onboard recorders where used.
15. Mell Gibson originally signed up for the film but then dropped out.
16. The final film consisted of 2700 individual shots,
17. When Miller made the script he knew it wasn't very good but he thought what he had in his head would make it better, using his story boards.
18. Miller also made Happy Feet 1 and two.
19. Everything in the film followed the rules of physics so they could create it in real life.
20. The film was finally released 30 years after the last film.
21. Overall it generated $374 million at the box office from all across the world.
22. The two main actors in the film Tom Hardy and Charlie Theron did not get on as Tom is a method actor he stayed in character the whole time.
23. They used Photoscan to build terrain models
24. The camera had to be made waterproof and dust proof because of the conditions
25. The cast became used to living in the desert as they spent so much time there.
26. Nicholas Hoult had previously been in the teenage drama skins
27. The production of fury road was said to be 5 days behind the original schedule.
28. In total there is 450 hours of footage for the editors to look and put together.
29. The director was George Miller
30. Fury Road was said to be based on a simple camera philosophy
31. Brendon McCarthy also worked with Miller to produce the massive storyboard.
32. It took 18 years to complete the storyboard
33. Charlie Theron shaved her head for her role therefore had to wear a wig in another film she was staring in
34. The film lasted for 120 minutes
35. 140 vehicles were used in the film
36. It is not a CGI film.
37. Tom Hardy was chosen for the role because of his animal charisma, as he became the character so well.
38. Miller believed that there would not be a sequel to the original film let alone a fourth.
39. A CG car is used when a twister picks up the vehicle and the war boys inside, sending them flying into the air.
40. An edge arm was used to film 95% of the footage
41. The edge arm cost $500,000
42. Weather delays stopped filming as it became cold when they really wanted the hot desert conditions.
43. DOP John Seale, would use multiple digital cameras to capture incredible practical stunts with more than 150 vehicles conceived by production designer Colin Gibson
44. To get the scene that Miller wanted they had to blow up part of a quarry.
45. Eric Whipp's phone was used at one point to film extra details to a particular scene.
46. The trailer to Mad Max did not show crucial parts of the whole film unlike others do.
47. Andrew Jackson was the visual effects supervisor
48. Jackson was helped by visual effects producer Holly Radcliffe
49. It became the highest of the most five prated films between June 21st and September 9 in 2015.
50. It was downloaded on torrent websites 85 million times in this time .
51. In the summer it had 22.9 million shares on torrent websites.
52. They used a remote control truck so they could blow it up from a distance without any injuries.
53. Whipp created the graphic style for the films day and night scenes with detailed sky replacements.
54. The use of photogrammetry techniques for the Citadel location, and for others in the film, was actually inspired by Jackson's initial use of an on-set aerial photography drone from Sensefly that he had intended to employ just for ground reference photos.
55. Eye trace was used within the film to make the audience look where they wanted them to.
56. This was normally in the center of the frame
57. Miller has already planned two more films
58. Everything was shot during the day
59. They employed freestyler's for the motorbike riders
60. To show Furiosa's arm that had been replaced mechanically Charlie had to wear a green screen glove whilst filming.
61. Photoscan was used to build terrain models
62. The camera that filmed the final crash sequence was the Phantom Camera as it takes 300 frames per second.
63. It took us around about 19 years for the film to be made from the idea in 1987
64. Chalize Theron was the female hero of the story which is different for films as the hero is normally male
65. Tom Hardy did not think he would be offered the role because he thought it would go to an Australian actor
66. On the set the production of the twisters were edited after so the drivers had to be told were to drive to 'avoid' them
67. At one point there was a six month shoot in the desert
68. Whipp believes that the trickest part of filming was the day to night section
69. Contrast range between the interiors and the harsh desert exteriors a challenge for the cameras.
70. The camera used to film the final crash sequence was the Phantom Camera and it takes 300 frames per second.
71. The vehicles got rigged, driven and crashed by the key crew including special effects supervisors Andy Williams and Dan Oliver and supervising stunt co-ordinator Guy Norris.
72. An in-house positives and VFX crew set up at production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell, dubbed Fury FX, was also crucial in planning and realising hundreds of effects shots.
73. Other work was completed by Method Studios and BlackGinger, with early previous delivered by The Third Floor.
74. here was a practical set piece that was shot in one of the stages at Fox Studios in Sydney, which was completely replaced.
75. There was a combination of real photography in Namibia of various cars an additional green screen and stage shoots was coined with CG car take-overs, digital doubles and complex fluid and dust stimulations by Iloura for the storm.
76. VFX elements were shot to help tie pieces together and provide more foreground dust.
77. Jackson incorporated a dust element shoot for swirling action close to camera and streams of sand blowing off the vehicles, this was to ensure the toxic storm looked somewhat grounded.
78. Conceived as a practical effect, the refinery was blown up in Namibia, with Iloura then compositing in the other cars and Max on the foreground pole.
79. Jackson went back out and shot equivalent plates for all the chase vehicles to be around it.
80. The final chase sequence was also one in which The Third Floor delivered previs, under previsualization supervisor Glenn Burton.
81. The final car chase consists of a lot of characters and a lot of switching vehicles and concurrent action.
82. The previs had to carefully track where everyone was at a particular beat and help work out the transitions so the characters would be at the right place at the right time.
83. The sequence of the final crash made use of numerous Namibia plates, including stationary action that would be enhanced by moving backgrounds, canyon augmentation, a War Rig and other vehicle crash stunts.
84. Miller wanted to use real dust for the end, so they went one floor up on a balcony and put a whole bunch of dry wall rocks and dust and crashed them down and filmed it at 240 fps for the slow-mo bit at the end, because they did not want to use CG.
85. The frenetic pace and complexity of the shoot in Namibia meant that backgrounds and skies were not always consistent from shot to shot.
86. Whenever they changed the sky, they tried to make it as graphic as they could.
87. The problem they had with Namibia was that there was a weird foggy atmosphere which rolls in the morning.
88. A positive of postvis process was when shots are half a second to a second long the postvis was virtually good enough.
89. Mad Max: Fury Road got entered as development hell, and people believed it would never escape.
90. The is assumed to be another Mad Max, after filming Fury Road called, Mad Max: Furiosa.
91. Fury Road was supposed to be released in 2013.
92. Tom Hardy apologised to Miller for being frustrated with what Miller wanted during shooting, he apologised at a venue.
93. There was 450 hours of footage the editors had to go through.
94. Due to Hardy apologising for his act towards Miller, it shows how much he appreciates the film due to the finished product.
95. Mad Max: Fury Road outruns Hot Pursuit for the title of top-spending movie of the week.
96. Fury Road repeated its No.1 position on the strength of a slightly lower estimated $7.5 million spent on 957 national airings across 42 networks.
97. Seale shot most of the film on Arri Alexa cameras, supplemented by far less costly Canons for the crash shots.
98. Concerns diminished when the complicated 3D shooting rigs developed for the film were scrapped.
99. Apparently, Miller also used post techniques to degrade the footage, increasing it's grain and contrast, and crunched the focus digitally. He did not want clean shots, he wanted the audience to feel as if they had sand in their eyes.
100. Charlize Theron thought this was a very hard film to act in