Up until now the only people discussing Mad Max: Fury Road have been director George Miller and online film writers (like myself) who have been following the development of the sci-fi sequel.

It looks like original star Mel Gibson won’t be returning to portray Max for a fourth time (he’ll apparently hand over the reins to British actor Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron)  but that doesn’t seem to worry the outspoken star. Having said that, Gibson is less than forthcoming with details about his (lack of?) involvement in the film.

Gibson was interviewed by Australia’s Herald Sun about the recently released Blu-ray of his Oscar-winning epic Braveheart and talk turned to his participation in Mad Max 4.

Gibson said:

”I was just talking with George (Miller, Mad Max director) the other day, he dropped me a line, so you kind of keep in touch with them and see what they’re up to. It’s not an obsession of mine. I figure if it’s great, you’ll end up seeing it, you know.”

The interviewer then pressed Gibson about his involvement in Fury Road – Gibson replied:

”Oh gosh, I don’t know what he’s up to…Not with me, I don’t think, man, I’m a bit old and long in the tooth for that number. You need somebody who can get around a bit quicker.”

The writer of the article adds that when Gibson said that he didn’t know what Miller was up to he said it “a little unconvincingly”. It’s also interesting to note that Mad Mel also says “Not with me, I don’t think”. That’s not a denial and it’s awfully similar to when George Miller said:

“It could be Mel, it could be anyone.”

Does this mean that Gibson will have a cameo in the film?  Might Hardy be playing Gibson’s sidekick or the bad guy? Or maybe Miller and company are using smoke and mirrors to conceal Gibson’s involvement in the film up until when it starts shooting next summer.

What do you guys think?

More on Mad Max 4 when we get it.

Source: Herald Sun

• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations
• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• It’s Official: No Lethal Weapon 5

Just a few days ago, we talked about a report E! Online had put out which stated that RocknRolla star Tom “Handsome Bob” Hardy and Charlize Theron were on the short list to star in George Miller’s 4^th installment of the Mad Max series, Fury Road. E! Online didn’t have any solid confirmation regarding the rumors so the information was to be taken with a grain of salt.

Today we learn (thanks to a heads up from First Showing), that The Hollywood Reporter is confirming both Hardy and Theron have entered into negotiations to star in Fury Road, with Hardy filling in for Mel Gibson as the titular role of Max Rockatansky and Theron as the female lead (does that mean she’s the new Tina Turner?). At this point, unless something wonky happens, Hardy and Theron will be the ones we see come release time.

It’s taken almost 10 years to get Fury Road off the ground and at one point, Mel Gibson was set to reprise his role, but let’s be honest – this isn’t the Mel Gibson of yesteryear. That Mel has been gone for some time now and even though he looks great in the new Edge of Darkness trailer, it’s just been too long since he strapped on the leather, wielded the sawed-off shotgun and got behind the wheel of his kick-ass Interceptor to run down bad guys.

Another reason Gibson couldn’t be Max, the story takes place shortly after Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, which means even with a hefty helping of CGI reverse aging, Gibson couldn’t fit the part anymore. What I’m hoping doesn’t happen is for this movie to be ruined with CGI effects. For this movie to work, the effects absolutely must stay practical and stay away from CGI.  Miller went on Australian’s ABC News the week to talk about his film, Australia’s film industry. Miller also shows us a car that may or may not be the prototype (thanks to AICN for the pointing this video out.) This means Miller won’t change the car, which is good to know because it’s as iconic a vehicle as The A-Team van or the General Lee.

Watch the video below:

There haven’t been any other details released regarding the story but I’m sure as we get closer to a shooting date that will change. Fury Road will begin shooting next summer and has a good chance of returning to the Australian deserts.

What do you think about Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson as Max in Fury Road? Can he do the role proud?

Mad Max Fury Road is tentatively slated for a 2011 release.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Cinema Blend

• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• It’s Official: No Lethal Weapon 5

Over the past few years I’ve been a bit amazed when certain films – that I honestly believed would never be made – have eventually made it to the big screen.

Films such as Live Free Or Die Hard, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull and even Superman Returns were in development for so long that at one point it appeared that they’d never be made. Now it looks like George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road might be making it onto that list.

Over the weekend Miller talked up the forthcoming action extravaganza to the Australian media, discussing casting, showing off cars for the film and giving details about when the film will shoot.

To learn more keep reading.

Miller says that pre-production for Mad Max 4 will start next week and it looks like there may be a slim chance that Mel Gibson could be stepping back into his iconic leathers for the film.

When asked about casting for the film by ABC News Miller replied:

“It could be Mel, it could be anyone. In fact, I’m looking around at these faces to see if anyone’s quite interesting her.”

He went on to say:

“I’m still in the middle of casting, despite all the stuff we see on the net and so on. I don’t even know who the final cast will be. We’ve been casting fairly furiously over the last six or seven weeks and I’ve got a lot of actors to see and so no decision has been made.”

While it isn’t confirmation of Gibson’s involvement it isn’t a denial, either – have Warner Bros secured Mel’s services so that they can happily spend $100 million on an action sequel to a 30 year-old film? God I hope so.

It could also mean that Miller is talking about filling out the supporting cast and not the title role of Mad Max. Over the past few months everyone from Jeremy Renner to Sam Worthington to Tom Hardy have been mentioned in relation to the role, while Charlize Theron’s name has been connected to a supporting part.

Miller also seems to be on a bit of a mission to help the Australian film industry and Mad Max 4 has been called “one of the largest and most ambitious live-action films ever made in Australia” by a local Politician. Considering that a couple of Star Wars and The Matrix films were lensed there, that’s a big claim. It’s believed that 540 jobs will be created over two-and-a-half years working on the film.

Check out the interview with Miller here – where he talks about casting Mad Max 4.

So has Gibson finally relented and decided to star in the film? He turned it down when he went on an acting sabbatical following The Passion of The Christ, but his recent starring turns in The Beaver and Edge of Darkness may have gotten him excited about returning to the franchise that made him a star. The cynic in me also believes that his pending divorce may also be a factor (read: $$$$$$$) – IF he does end up starring in the film.

We don’t need another hero! We want Mel Gibson! (At least I do. )

More on Mad Max when we get it.

Sources: ABC News and Ain’t It Cool

• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• It’s Official: No Lethal Weapon 5
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson

George Miller has been trying to get a Mel Gibson-less Mad Max film off the ground for the last few years. The last thing that we heard was that the star of The Hurt Locker Jeremy Renner was up for the role in the rebooted action franchise.

However, there are now rumors that star of Brit-jail-house-flick Bronson, Tom Hardy, will be slipping into Mel Gibson’s leathers for the role of Mad Max, and that Oscar-winner Charlize Theron will be “doing a Tina Turner” and co-starring in Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.

The not-always-reliable E! Online is reporting that “multiple sources” are stating that Theron and Hardy will be going beyond Thunderdome and starring in Fury Road.

The site also states that the film is quite a while away yet:

“The Mad Max revamp is a long way from fruition, and Miller is being very secretive about the roles and plot. Actors auditioning for the film have only been given a letter for their character’s name. The studio has yet to sign off on Miller’s choices, and no formal offers have been made.”

Is this true?

Hardy is set for a big break thanks to 'Bronson'

I think that there could be a bit of truth to it. I do believe that if George Miller is going to recast the role of Max Rockatansky, then he will go with a relative unknown (like Gibson was in the original). If this is the case, and if the budget for the film is going to be on the high side, then Miller also needs someone to keep the money men happy and Theron would appear to fit that bill.

In the summer we mentioned that Jeremy Renner was going to be ”testing” for the role – and if he has already tested (which we can presume he did) then it would appear that he didn’t get the part (obviously).

Again, this news is all very uncertain and the studio might want a bigger name for the role of Max in the fourth Mad Max adventure.

I’ve said it a million times before, and I’ll say it again – Mel Gibson should return as Mad Max. He’s proved that he can still kick ass in the Edge of Darkness trailer.

So come on – stump up the cash and get Mad Mel back on the big screen in the role that made him a star!

What are your thoughts?

Source: E!Online via Ain’t It Cool

• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• Mel Gibson Bashes Skulls in ‘Edge of Darkness’ Trailer

George Miller has been working on a new Mad Max film for almost a decade and old Max himself, Mel Gibson, was set to return in Mad Max 4: Fury Road in 2002 when the war in Iraq scuttled the project. Since then, Gibson has passed on the role stating that he is too old to play the character.

Miller has pondered many different possibilities for the future of the franchise, ranging from recasting the part, to making the next installment in the series an animated film.

Now it would appear that Miller has decided to return to the live action format with The Hurt Locker star, Jeremy Renner, as a possible candidate for the lead role of Mad Max.

In an interview with The Modesto Bee about Kathryn Bigelow’s latest critically-acclaimed movie, The Hurt Locker, Renner revealed some details on his upcoming projects including a starring role in Ben Affleck’s forthcoming The Town and the possibility of him doing Mad Max next summer.

Renner said:

“I’m also fighting to do the new Mad Max film with George Miller. That might be next summer. I’m screen-testing and meeting George Miller.”

Now, his words aren’t confirmation that he’s up for the title role of Mad Max, but it’s very likely and a fair assumption that he’s in the running to be stepping into Mel Gibson’s leathers.

This is much better news than Miller making an animated Mad Max film – which I don’t think would do the franchise any justice. However, I really do feel that the character of Max Rockatansky is an iconic Mel Gibson role and it will be very difficult to see another actor play the Road Warrior.

All of this sounds like the film is in the very early stages of production and George Miller is currently working on Happy Feet 2, so a lot could change over the course of the next year. Miller was also working furiously on the ill-fated Justice League movie and he seemed pretty adamant that he’d get that project up and running again. This means that it could be a while before seeing Mad Max on the silver screen again.

This news also doesn’t mean that Renner has the part – it’s only a screen test and another actor could end up getting the role. That being said, Renner’s star profile is continuing to grow and there’s a lot of positive buzz surrounding his recent performance in The Hurt Locker which will definitely help his chances. He’s also an experienced bad-ass in most of his roles, ranging from the self-sacrificing soldier in 28 Weeks Later, to the cop-turned-villain opposite of Colin Farrell in S.W.A.T.

It is unknown at this point what the storyline for the new film would be. Is it a remake of the original film? Or is it just a continuation of Max’s adventures as he travels through the wastelands?

With a bit of luck, Miller and Gibson will have a few more discussions about Mad Max 4 and realize that it might be fun if they both return to the post-apocalyptic Australian Outback.

What do you think of the future of Mad Max?

More when we get it.

Source: Modesto Bee Via Ain’t It Cool News

• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations
• Explosive New Poster For ‘The Hurt Locker’

It looks like Mel Gibson fans will have to make do with those old DVD box sets of Mad Max and Lethal Weapon.

Hot on the heels of the news that Mel wont be returning to Mad Max comes official news that Warner Bros. has given up on the Lethal Weapon franchise due to Mel’s lack of interest.

Clint Morris at Moviehole (who appears to have a mole deep inside the Warner Bros lot) spoke with an executive who said :

“That one is as good as dead. It won’t happen. Which is a pity”

Franchise creator Shane Black had written a script for a fifth film and producer Joel Silver had the writer in the frame to direct, but Mel Gibson’s loyalties lay with original director (and mentor) Richard Donner who was sidelined from the project due to a very public falling out with Silver.

Donner also had a script for a fifth film in the action franchise written by Channing Gibson (no relation to Mel) but Mel feels that the character of Martin Riggs has come to his natural end and doesn’t see the point of returning to the role.

Having said that apparently Gibson and Donner have a film in development which they plan to shoot next year – so there is the chance that they may get around to talking about Lethal Weapon. However, the Warner Bros source said:

”It could (come up) but I don’t think it will happen that way either”.

A shame, but he at least they’re not going to do an animated sequel without Gibson’s voice.

Source: Moviehole

• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations

Sometimes directors just lose something. It’s sad but true. Maybe they get too carried away with business (George Lucas) or technology (James Cameron) and this leads to them loosing their magic touch.

George Miller was once a hard hitting director who delivered such R rated fair as the Mad Max trilogy and The Witches of Eastwick. Now the Australian director is content to helm family fare such as Babe: Pig In The City and the animated film Happy Feet.

He had promised to deliver a fourth Mad Max film titled Fury Road, and the film was close to shooting in 2002 when the war in Iraq led to the film falling apart. Now it looks like Miller is ready to bring Mad Max back to the screen. There are just two problems:

Mel Gibson will not be involved

It will be an animated feature.

Miller recently said spoke to MTV and revealed some details about the film and a forthcoming Mad Max computer adventure.

When asked about a new Mad Max film Miller said:

“We’ll probably go a different route.”

“I see myself as someone who is very curious about storytelling and all its various media. I’ve always loved anime, in particular the Japanese sensibility. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“The anime is an opportunity for me to shift a little bit about what anime is doing because anime is ripe for an adjustment or sea change. It’s coming in games and I believe it’s the same in anime. There’s going to be a hybrid anime where it shifts more towards Western sensibilities. Kurosawa was able to bridge that gap between the Japanese sensibilities and the West and make those definitive films.”

Miller said that God of War II designer Corey Barlog is working on the Mad Max game. However, don’t expect either project soon.

Miller said:

“I’ve got a couple of years left. We’re in the early stages writing and designing. A really good game you need two and half years. And for good anime you need two years.”

As much as I enjoy Mad Max I feel that Miller should let the franchise go if Gibson isn’t involved. Along with Martin Riggs, Max Rockatansky is one of his signature roles – it’s like making a Dirty Harry film without Clint Eastwood. Heck – I’d even rather they go and reboot the franchise with another actor before milking the cow like this.

A Mel Gibson led Mad Max film is a great idea.

Any other (half baked) ideas and I’d have to say – “we don’t need another hero.”

Source: MTV

• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?
• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• It’s Official: No Lethal Weapon 5
• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations

Welcome to another Weekend Movie News Wrap Up. It’s almost St Patrick’s Day, which is great for everyone, but as I’m Irish it means that I can drink Guinness all day long and no one will look down on me. Well, no more than usual.

That’s enough about me though, I know that you don’t read this item to discover my social calender so I’ll cut to the chase and give you your movie news fix from the past week.

This week we have news on : Mad Max: Fury Road, George Lucas’ Red Tails, The Punisher : War Zone, Wolfgan Petersen’s Uprising and a new version of Heavy Metal.

1. Newsweek spoke with George Miller about the fourth Mad Max film: Fury Road. He is quoted as saying:

Well, the first one will be a Mad Max game. Because what happened was, we were all ready to go, within eleven weeks of shooting the next Mad Max movie, Fury Road. This was way back when the war in Iraq started, and that really threw this out for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which was that the American dollar crashed against the Australian dollar. And apart from that, just insurances, getting vehicles and stuff there on container ships–all that slowed down around the world. So we had to move on to Happy Feet, because that was going to take a long time.

He also says that Mel Gibson was all but signed to the film six years ago, but that when he makes the film it will be without Gibson, as he is too old.

Now Miller wants to make a Mad Max video game before he puts the film into production. Miller says:

The movie was in a very highly advanced stage of preproduction when we stopped it. It’s all prepared, but now I want to stop and do the game and get those schedules in sync.. In other words, I’m delaying the movie in order to do a really good game. Normally what happens everyone’s scrambling to finish a game so it can coincide with the release of the movie.

My interest in this thing has just nose dived if Mel Gibson isn’t involved. Mad Mel is Mad Max!

2. George Lucas has said that the long in gestating Red Tails could be released by the end of the year and that he will then go on to ” do a Coppola” and direct art house style films. Lucas says:

We’re getting towards a script, and probably start shooting before the end of the year, and it should come out next year, maybe. That’s probably going to be the last movie I do, apart from my own movies, but my own movies are going to be more esoteric and probably will come and go in a week and be in one or two arthouses. It’s basically the same as what Francis is doing.

I don’t see Lucas getting behind a camera again to direct, but would have said that fifteen years ago about the chances of another Star Wars film. We will see.

3. The Punisher: War Zone website is now live. There’s not a great deal to see, but you can have a peek at a couple of stills. I’m looking forward to this.

4. Wolfgang Petersen will direct Uprising, a Sci-Fi thriller penned by Charles Leavitt. According to Variety :

(The) story revolves around the resistance efforts of some citizens after Earth has been occupied by a powerful alien race.

Sounds like it could be good. Sounds like it could be crap. Time will tell, but I’m quite a fan of Petersen’s work so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

5. Paramount Pictures will produce an animated film based on the magazine Heavy Metal. The film will be made up of different stories, each directed by a different director. David Fincher will direct one segment, while Tim Miller and Kevin Eastman will direct also. More directors will be added soon.

That’s it for now, see you next week!

Sources: Newsweek , Comingsoon , PunisherMovie.com , Variety

• Mel Gibson Talks Mad Max 4
• Confirmed: Tom Hardy & Charlize Theron in Mad Max 4 Negotiations
• Is Jeremy Renner The New Mad Max?
• Charlize Theron & Tom Hardy In Mad Max 4?
• Mad Max Minus Mel Gibson
• Could Mel Gibson Be Involved In Mad Max 4 After-all?