George Miller struck a pretty tremendous blow against the idea of ageism with his vibrant, dynamic work on “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and since that film came out, his name's been bouncing around, with several different possible projects rumored as his next priority.
He's said several times now that the rumor about him directing “Man Of Steel 2” is simply untrue, but he has yet to offer up the title of what he's doing instead. Talking to Top Gear, he gave a pretty clear picture of what's on his mind right now. “I want to do a small film without special effects… just do it quickly,” he said, and it's easy to imagine why he'd want that. “Fury Road” was a monumental shoot, and when you look at the final film, it's pretty clear why it took so long. That kind of remarkable, precision-based mayhem is demanding, and Miller's the kind of guy who has to do it right, or not at all. “We shot 'Fury Road' for eight months… that's a lot. Every day in the heat and the dust, doing these stunts, it's very wearing.”
So while he wants to make something smaller first, it sounds like Miller is still serious about returning to the world of “Mad Max,” and not just once. We've been hearing for some time now that there was more material developed for “Max” than they used, and there was some talk that there was a “Furiosa” spin-off film just waiting for a greenlight, with a finished script and a ton of art already developed.
“We're talking to the studio about it as we speak, but which one of the two stories will happen next, I'm not so sure.” Wait… is that a mistake? Did Miller really just say that they're going to make two more films? “We've got two more planned, but at some point in the future.”
Two more. And they're stories that could be told in either order. Holy crap, I am so in the tank for whatever Miller's got planned. I've been a fan as long as he's been making films, but “Fury Road” made it clear that Miller's sharper than ever, which means the most exciting and kinetic action filmmaker alive is a soft-spoken man in his 70s.
No word yet on what kind of timetable they're looking at, but I'm willing to wait if it means we get another film even as great as “Fury Road.”