MAD Max director George Miller has explained why the lead role in the latest instalment of his road warrior series had to be played by a woman.
Mad Max: Fury Road is the surprise hit of the Hollywood awards season, receiving 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
In an interview with The New York Times, Miller said the lead character, Furiosa, “had to be a woman (because) the story was to be a continuous chase,” he said, adding that it “came down to five wives who were basically the breeding stock, as it were, to a decaying warlord. They needed a road warrior. It had to be female, because if it was male, it’s a male stealing the wives of another male.
“That’s a different story. What I didn’t expect was how Charlize [Charlize Theron, who plays Furiosa] was able to take it and bring all she had to it, such that people, you know, are getting tattoos [of her character]. It’s kind of scary. A couple times, I’ve been stopped in the streets, where people say, ‘Can I show you my tattoo?’ And these are young people, and they’ve got tattoos of characters.”
Miller also revealed that he attended the LA premiere of the film with Mel Gibson – the first Mad Max – by his side.
“We sat together, and I knew he got into the movie, because he started digging me in the ribs. As the movie went on, I realised he was enjoying it and paid the film a lot of respect, and it was great.”
