Drew Turney
Neither Charlize Theron nor Nicholas Hoult are stranger to big budget action fare after films like “Prometheus”, “Hancock” and the “X-Men” series.
But we’ll bet neither of them ever thought they’d end up in the deserts of Namibia racing cars and trucks through enormous CGI sandstorms, sporting buzz cuts, tattoos and body paint.
Such circumstances could only possibly lead to one of two spectacular movie experiences for the stars, crew and later the audience. One is ”Star Wars”, but that was going to be filming up in Abu Dhabi.
The other was George Miller’s follow-up to the films many fans still equate him with despite a few decades of dancing penguins and talking pigs, ”Mad Max Fury Road”.
So, having finally scraped the sand out of everywhere it had got stuck after the months-long 2012 shoot, the stars sat down to tell Moviehole all about it.
What was it about Mad Max Fury Road that appealed to you?
Nicholas Hoult:
A lot of things. I hadn’t seen the original films and watched them before I auditioned with George, and was blown away first of all by the fact that so many things I had seen in pop culture were basically based upon this world that George has created, and then also how they stood the test of time and how interesting they were and how the world developed.
Then also the chance to work with him, I loved Babe growing up. I had the cuddly toy Babe and if you squeezed its ear it said quotes from the movie. I still have it. It’s awkward at the moment. It says things like, “I’m a pig on a mission.” If that goes off at the wrong time you’re in real trouble.
But why was I into working with him? He’s a director I look up to, he uses some of the best set designers, vehicle builders, these are just all very exciting, at the top of their game and making an exciting, interesting film, and also a character that I just loved and adored and enjoyed playing.
Charlize Theron:
I have gone through my career being somewhat enamored by George as a filmmaker, and I found myself in my career talking with other directors who I really hold in a high regard, and I’ve heard them talk about George as a filmmaker.
Then there was the loose ideas that everyone was talking about, what the movie was and the characters that he was creating, and that there was going to be this awesome female role and that she would stand next to Max. I was intrigued by all of that. Then I met the man, the myth, and we had a very very long dinner and we fell madly in love. Don’t tell your wife, because she’s South African. I know how we roll.
What did you like about the character of Furiosa having strength and vulnerability?
She felt very truthful to me and for an actor there’s always something that resonates purely on the human level, because at the end of the day the circumstances are different but we’re playing people and the human condition is really limited to your circumstances.
She’s strong because of her circumstances, and I think that’s the truth that I’m talking about and that’s what I love about it. I think people think women just want to be considered strong, and as strong as a man. And we are, but we’re also many other things.
We’re just as conflicted and we’re just as dark and we’re just as interesting, and I guess it’s really nice to play a female character in a world who’s authentically influenced by her circumstances. I don’t know how else to really articulate it. I just feel like she feels like a real person to me who is who she is. She’s strong, she’s vulnerable, she’s broken, she’s determined, she’s furious.
She’s all of these things because of the world that she finds herself in, that she’s relying on her reptilian brain as much as the man next to her. It’s kind of do or die. Her objective in this film is to not die. That’s it, emotionally and physically.
What do you make of the audience response to this film coming out in relation to the old ones?
Charlize Theron:
I feel like this is a stand-alone movie that pays great homage to something very iconic. If you’d never seen a Mad Max movie and you saw this film you could thoroughly enjoy it. You wouldn’t be lost or confused. And if you had seen the earlier three films, there would be little throwback moments that you would really enjoy and appreciate.
But I don’t think we spent a lot of time talking about those films as much as we talked about this film. We weren’t just trying to be respectful to the trilogy or the story of this world that George had created and set up. We set out to do a stand-alone film.
Nicholas Hoult:
Because it’s been in George’s brain since the original, it’s been running around in there for so long, it showed detail of each character, each moment, and that makes a film very real for us on set and I’m sure when you’re watching the film. It’s full of things that even if you don’t notice them watching the first time, there’s so much back story to each character alone.
Even the inside of my car, everything in there was so specific and necessary for the character. It makes it very original because a lot of blockbuster movies are very formatted and regimented in the beats you need to hit and everything.
What does Mad Max say about the human condition?
Nicholas Hoult:
I had to prepare a small talk about the human condition in case this came up.
I think that the main thing from the film that I took away watching it the other day and making it was this thing about the immortal. Because obviously it’s about hope and all these things, these characters survive with hope.
Also the fact that this guy who’s controlling the resources, that’s something you see around the world now. Out of the whole film, this is an issue that is happening around the world. Even though it’s made up it’s actually very relevant to the present day.
Charlize Theron:
I guess what really resonated with me was the back stories that George had handed each one of us. It’s not necessarily explained in the movie but it was information for us to really truly understand where our characters came from.
When I watch the movie I see that pain and that thing that emotionally drives every single character. I see it in their eyes. You don’t necessarily ever hear them speak of it, but you can just see that something in their eyes is just driving them.
I guess I’m a lover of the human condition when it’s brutally honest, and I loved that there was nothing heroic about this movie, that none of these characters were trying to be a hero and that they weren’t trying to save the world. They where driven by things that were so personal.
People have come up to me and said things like, “It’s so great that you saved those women from that horrible life,” and I have other people come up to me and say, “You really hate that Immortan Joe guy, huh? You were really trying to fuck with him by taking those wives from him.”
So it’s like this emotional truth of just how it’s not always one thing that drives you and sometimes the thing that drives you the most is not necessarily the most attractive human attribute, not the most heroic. It’s just the thing that’s so in your nature to want to set it right for yourself, and I really related to those things, not just in Furiosa but in Max’s character.
