NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 When it was time to start making 鈥淔uriosa: A Mad Max Saga,鈥 production designer Colin Gibson went to a garage in Australia to find some old friends.
It had been years since wrapped production. Many of the vehicles seen in the film had been blown up or left to rust in Namibia. But a dozen of them 鈥 the 鈥渄irty dozen,鈥 Gibson calls them 鈥 had been put in storage, including the War Rig, Gigahorse and Duff Wagon.
鈥淭hey did need a fair amount of cleaning up,鈥 Gibson says a little wistfully. 鈥淎 lot of the fuel had turned to jelly and the tires sink. And it all seemed so much sadder than you remember.鈥
Returning to the world of 鈥淢ad Max鈥 meant resurrecting the motorized army of 鈥淔ury Road,鈥 getting it back into running condition and building an entire new fleet of gas-guzzling, mutant machines of apocalyptic doom.
As terrific as the cast of 鈥淔uriosa鈥 is, including and Chris Hemsworth, let鈥檚 be real. The true stars of any 鈥淢ad Max鈥 movie are the vehicles. The characters and actors of 鈥淢ad Max鈥 may come and go across the saga鈥檚 45 years, but the marauding mechanized horde keeps chugging.
鈥淚n a sense, they鈥檙e characters 鈥 they鈥檙e extensions of the characters,鈥 Miller says. 鈥淵ou see it right through the 鈥楳ad Max鈥 films. The V8 Inceptor is an extension of Max. Furiosa ultimately has that vehicle we call the Cranky Black that鈥檚 an expression of who she is at the end of the movie.鈥
鈥淔uriosa,鈥 which opened in theaters Thursday, takes place years ahead of the events of 鈥淔ury Road,鈥 so the War Rig and company aren鈥檛 called back into duty until the end of the film. But they were a necessary reference point for all the cars and trucks that lead up to that finale. 鈥淔uriosa鈥 is a prequel for more than its title character.
鈥淲e did use the idea of those other vehicles to build an evolution in,鈥 says Gibson. 鈥淪o we would drop in vehicles that looked in embryo like some of the vehicles that had since been destroyed or gone to gold or been exploded off in Africa.鈥
Gibson is a longtime collaborator of Miller鈥檚 whose fervor for doing things practically and as realistically as possible is nearly as extreme as the War Boys鈥 zeal for Valhalla. That was a big part of the kinetic thrill of 鈥淔ury Road.鈥 And while that film included CGI in nearly every shot to accomplish its explosive onslaught, 鈥淔uriosa鈥 depended on a bit more effects to realize its post-apocalyptic world.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like easy,鈥 he says. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 operate very well under easy. It鈥檚 one of my ongoing arguments with George. I prefer uneasy, which may be why I鈥檓 so annoying.鈥
Production designers might build the facade of a house or even an entire shell, but they don't have to install working plumbing. Gibson's creations, though, have to move. Most have working engines and when the director says 鈥淎ction!鈥 they have to move. As he says, 鈥淓verything has to be able to do its own stunt.鈥
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of hidden, unseen effort that goes into that,鈥 Miller says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a military exercise. Of the shooting crew, there was over a thousand people on set every day, just to keep all that stuff going.鈥
Gibson, who hadn鈥檛 yet seen the film during an interview earlier this month, was still nursing some wounds over the fact that 鈥淔uriosa鈥 contains some digital machines, too.
鈥淯nless it鈥檚 real, unless the sense of gravity is there, I don鈥檛 think you get the hair going up on the back of your neck,鈥 Gibson says. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what we achieved with 鈥楩ury Road,鈥 and I鈥檒l keep my fingers crossed that the CG doesn鈥檛 distance us too much in 鈥楩uriosa.鈥欌
鈥淚t is slightly different,鈥 sighs Gibson, 鈥渁nd I鈥檓 an old-fashioned girl.鈥
But 鈥淔uriosa鈥 also had many more challenges than 鈥淔ury Road,鈥 which transpires across a three-day blur. 鈥淔uriosa,鈥 spanning decades, needed more locations. (Here, Gas Town and Bullet Farm are visited.) And a more sprawling array of characters meant a lot more rides.
Dementus (Hemsworth) is a new villain whom the filmmakers styled after a fusion of Roman emperor and Genghis Khan. Early in 鈥淔uriosa,鈥 he rides a chariot pulled by three motorcycles. Later, he pilots a six-wheeled monster truck.
The War Rig, the central semi-truck of 鈥淔ury Road,鈥 also needed an earlier iteration for 鈥淔uriosa.鈥 Whereas the 鈥淔ury Road鈥 War Rig was more weathered and beaten up, 鈥淔uriosa鈥 finds Immortan Joe鈥檚 Citadel at the height of its power.
鈥淪o this is Louis the Sun King,鈥 says Gibson. 鈥淭his is the Palace of Versailles. This is a shiny, mirrored, godlike object racing out into the desert and reflecting all the nothing that鈥檚 coming back but also emblazoned with the legend of the Immortan as he sees it himself.鈥
It鈥檚 upon that rig that 鈥淔uriosa鈥 has its most lengthy and blistering sequence. And while Taylor-Joy feels a particular bond with the War Rig she spent 78 days crawling across, the thoughtful features of the Cranky Black roadster were more revelatory to her.
鈥淚 love the fact there are all these details in the filmmaking that you don鈥檛 even see as an audience member,鈥 Taylor-Joy says. 鈥淟ike, the Cranky Black has human teeth all along the inside, which is so cool.鈥
But the defining vehicle of 鈥淔uriosa鈥 may be the motorbike. Two-wheelers star in the movie鈥檚 frenetic start and they only populate from there, eventually filling the desert like a swarm of locusts.
鈥淕eorge had the idea that by the time Dementus arrived at the Citadel, there might have been 2- or 3- or 4- or 6,000 motorbikes,鈥 Gibson says. 鈥淚 looked at how long it would take me to build that many. Do you know how hard it is to make one motorbike look different from another? They鈥檙e basically two wheels and a seat.鈥
That meant, to Gibson鈥檚 horror, the necessity of CGI. But that didn鈥檛 stop him from building some 100 characterized motorbikes, along with doubles for about half of them.
鈥淥f all the vehicles, you always love the ones that start with nothing,鈥 Gibson says. 鈥淲e were fortunate that BMW, Harley Davidson and Yamaha all came to the party and gave us generously of their beautiful machines knowing that there was no exclusivity and that by the time I got through with them, their mother wouldn鈥檛 recognize them.鈥
One bike has particular meaning to Gibson. He built it from an old 1940s Triumph kneeler, the kind used for racing. His mother 鈥 鈥渁 bit of a devil-may-care Sheila in her youth,鈥 he says 鈥 had once worked at a speedway around such motorcycles. Gibson lavished his with detail and texture as a kind of ode to her.
鈥淚f I could hang it on a key ring,鈥 Gibson says, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 probably the one I鈥檇 keep.鈥
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