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Blood, Sweat & Chrome

The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

One of Entertainment Weekly's Best Books of 2022!

"New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan details the bonkers construction of director George Miller's long-awaited and often seemingly-doomed fourth Mad Max movie via testimony from the filmmaker, Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and a host of others. The result is an epic and – when it comes to the Theron-Hardy on-set relationship – acrimonious tale no less jaw-dropping than the movie itself." — Entertainment Weekly

A full-speed-ahead oral history of the nearly two-decade making of the cultural phenomenon Mad Max: Fury Road—with more than 130 new interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and director George Miller, from the pop culture reporter for The New York Times, Kyle Buchanan.

It won six Oscars and has been hailed as the greatest action film ever, but it is a miracle Mad Max: Fury Road ever made it to the screen... or that anybody survived the production. The story of this modern classic spanned nearly two decades of wild obstacles as visionary director George Miller tried to mount one of the most difficult shoots in Hollywood history.

Production stalled several times, stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron clashed repeatedly in the brutal Namib Desert, and Miller's crew engineered death-defying action scenes that were among the most dangerous ever committed to film. Even accomplished Hollywood figures are flummoxed by the accomplishment: As the director Steven Soderbergh has said, "I don't understand how they're not still shooting that film, and I don't understand how hundreds of people aren't dead."

Kyle Buchanan takes readers through every step of that moviemaking experience in vivid detail, from Fury Road's unexpected origins through its outlandish casting process to the big-studio battles that nearly mutilated a masterpiece. But he takes the deepest dive in reporting the astonishing facts behind a shoot so unconventional that the film's fantasy world began to bleed into the real lives of its cast and crew. As they fought and endured in a wasteland of their own, the only way forward was to have faith in their director's mad vision. But how could Miller persevere when almost everything seemed to be stacked against him?

With hundreds of exclusive interviews and details about the making of Fury Road, readers will be left with one undeniable conclusion: There has never been a movie so drenched in sweat, so forged by fire, and so epic in scope.

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    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2022

      In 2020, New York Times reporter Buchanan wrote an oral history of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) to coincide with the film's fifth anniversary. That viral article was the basis for this full-length treatment of how a film that almost didn't get made (one movie studio even walked away) turned into an unexpected success, winning six Oscars and becoming a feminist classic. Buchanan interviewed more than 130 members of the cast and crew in order to present this oral history of the decade-long process of developing the film, the fourth in a franchise. Director George Miller shares his vision for focusing the film on one long car race and discusses the decision to center Furiosa (Charlize Theron) alongside Max (Tom Hardy). Fans of Mad Max's car chases will enjoy behind-the-scenes insight on filming the stunts in the Namibian desert. Buchanan's interviews hear the crew expressing frustrations about the lengthy casting process and the film's tendency to run over budget and behind schedule. Throughout the book, Miller's vision is brought to life. VERDICT An insider's guide to Fury Road that will inspire fans to rewatch and leave them eager for the next installment on Furiosa.--Stephanie Sendaula

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from January 1, 2022
      In 2015, Max Mad: Fury Road exploded onto cinema screens to almost universal acclaim (it was even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture). Hailed as an innovative action movie, it was the culmination of almost two decades of obsession and frustration for its director, George Miller. It was a brutally difficult movie to make: there was no script (but there were thousands of storyboards), almost every scene was an action scene, and it was filmed on location in the Namib Desert. This must-have oral history of the movie is based on more than 130 interviews with the film's cast and crew: not just the top liners (director, stars, screenwriter, cinematographer), but set designers, prop masters, supporting players, special-effects artists, stunt performers, and many more. It's as if the entire cast and crew were in a big room, sharing their stories. The book is so good that, even though we know how the story turned out (the movie did eventually get made), we are somehow in a near-constant state of suspense, wondering if Miller and his team will ever get this celluloid beast off the ground. Filled with surprises and illuminating behind-the-scenes stories, this is the book Mad Max fans crave.

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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