Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth film in Aussie director George Miller’s much-loved post-apocalyptic series, has been charging along in Namibia since July of this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production’s taken a minor detour and the film is now several days behind schedule:
And Warner Bros. is making sure the problem doesn’t escalate. Studio head Jeff Robinov flew to the Africa set a few weeks ago to evaluate the film, which sources say had fallen at least five days behind schedule.
And to chart a course correction, producer Denise di Novi has been dispatched to the set to supervise. Warner Bros., in confirming Di Novi’s involvement to The Hollywood Reporter, is calling her a “studio representative” who will serve as the eyes and ears of Warners as production continues.
A $100-125 million production shooting practical car stunts outdoors in a far-away African desert. With temperatures that threaten to reach 104 degrees F up to 300 days of the year. What could go wrong?
This should come as a surprise to no one. If you’re a fan of George Miller’s finished films, just know they regularly fall behind schedule and rise over-budget (Happy Feet 2‘s last minute race to release date is legendary). Fury Road seems par for the course for a visionary director who’s accustomed to fighting for what he wants. While troubling, I can’t imagine this news having any bearing on the finished film; especially if Warners already recognizes a problem and is working to stop the bleeding. I’m more concerned with Fury Road‘s status as a franchise revival that’s also a fourth entry in the series. History has proven it bad jujube indeed*.
Mad Max: Fury Road sees Tom Hardy inheriting the title role from Mel Gibson** and is, as of right now, still on track for a 2013 release.
*See, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Terminator: Salvation, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, AVATAR IV
**(Potential Spoiler) Check out the final name on this cast list. Curious if this has been confirmed anywhere…