Tom Hardy might have done a solid job with the role in Mad Max: Fury Road, but when most people conjure up an image of Max Rockatansky in their heads, chances are it’ll be Mel Gibson they see. After all, George Miller’s 1979 original remains one of the most profitable movies ever made after earning over $100 million on a $350,000 budget, and served as the launchpad for the leading man’s career.
Mad Max was just Gibson’s third feature film, but went a long way to kickstarting his ascent up the Hollywood ladder that saw him reign as one of the biggest stars in the business throughout the 1980s and 90s, and that’s without even mentioning that the first two installments in the franchise are stone-cold classics, while Beyond Thunderdome is still a hugely enjoyable threequel.
Fury Road may have spent over 20 years stuck in development hell, but Miller never planned on having Gibson return to the fold, although that isn’t going to stop Chris Hemsworth from potentially reaching out ahead of the upcoming prequel Furiosa. In a new interview, the actor admitted that he might give the legendary actor a call for some post-apocalyptic advice, before going on to reveal his excitement at getting to play in the Mad Max sandbox, saying:
“It’s something I’m going to put my heart and soul into because it really is for me, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest pinch-myself moment because I’ve grown up watching it.”
Production on Mad Max: Furiosa is pencilled in to begin later this year, with the fifth installment in the series set for release in June 2023. Anya Taylor-Joy will lead the project as a younger version of Charlize Theron’s titular character, with Hemsworth reportedly on board to play Dementus, who’s described as being breathtakingly handsome with an angel’s face, which shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for him to pull off.