George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road is a rough and gritty film in every dimension. The film, of course, is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where there is a general kill-or-be-killed vibe, but there is also a certain level of infamy surrounding the making-of, as there was a certain level of chaos in the production that resulted in a fair bit of behind-the-scenes drama. It's in this light that most people think about the movie, so it's a bit surprising to see the sweet photo from set that star Charlize Theron recently posted online:
The filming of Mad Max: Fury Road took up most of the second half of 2012, which was a particularly notable time in the life of Charlize Theron, as she adopted her first child in March of that same year. Because of this, the baby was evidently a fairly consistent presence during production, and as noted by Theron in the caption posted along with the photo, the child got to spend his first year of existence inside the cab of a monster oil tanker rigged for the end of the world on the set of what many consider to be one of the greatest action blockbusters of all time.
Taking in all of this information, two questions immediately spring to mind. The first: was the baby immune to sound? All big budget movie sets feature a ton of noise, as there is near-constant construction happening between takes, the set of Mad Max: Fury Road must have been a crazy cacophony like none other thanks to all of the engines regularly revving.
The second question is: is this setting the bar of awesomeness too high for a child at a young age? Just being on the set is one thing, but that baby basically got to have Furiosa as a mom for 5-6 months. That's pretty incredible and hard to top as far as life experiences go.
After principal photography was completed in 2012, Mad Max: Fury Road fittingly still had a long way to go before it was ready to hit theaters, as it took nearly two-and-a-half years of before post-production was completed. About three months after the three-year anniversary of Charlize Theron adopting her child, the movie was finally released on May 15, 2015, and it remains heralded as one of the greatest accomplishments in 21st century filmmaking.
Fast forwarding to know, George Miller is currently still figuring out how he can make his Mad Max: Fury Road spin-off centered on Furiosa, the filmmaker very recently explaining how he and his team are currently working out the logistics. There has also been talk about the start of the casting process for the project, as Anya-Taylor Joy is reportedly up for a part in the film.
Those of you who now find themselves hungry to either revisit or check out Mad Max: Fury Road will be disappointed to learn that the film is not presently available on any streaming services – but it can be both purchased and rented digitally, and is available on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD.
