Mad Max: Fury Road had intense action scenes thanks to director George Miller love for real stunts and effects. Actor Nicholas Hoult got to see it all up close.
Nicholas Hoult shared that Mad Max: Fury Road took action scenes to the next level. At a MEGACON Orlando Q&A, he talked about how the outdoor sets had crazy ramps where stunt performers practiced. Since the movie focuses a lot on real car chases, it was amazing to watch the stunt team perfect their daring moves.
We would turn up in the morning in the desert, and they built these motorcycle ramps for stunt doubles to practice doing jumps 30-40ft in the air, I was like ‘This is a weird place.’
he said.
Hoult said that moment was his craziest memory from the set, but it’s just a glimpse of how impressive Fury Road’s production was. The movie set a new standard for stunts by avoiding CGI to make the chase scenes feel more real. Stunt coordinator Guy Norris told Rolling Stone in 2015,
It was literally like going to war. [Director] George [Miller] always imagined we would have to use CGI for safety, but I dreamed we could do it for real. We put in a lot of effort training guys in Chinese pole work.
He shared that the Polecats scene was his favorite
The scenes with the war boys swinging on poles looked like pirates boarding a ship, but behind-the-scenes footage showed stunt performers actually doing it during real chase scenes. Stunt coordinator Norris shared,
A friend of mine who worked for Cirque du Soleil took it a step further, leading an eight-week training program.
He explained that the big breakthrough was raising the pivot point of the pole, like those old desk toys where a duck dips its beak in water. Fans hoping to see the Polecats in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga instead got a cool upgrade: parachutist marauders swooping down like vultures in the “Stowaway” scene.
Read More: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Is Now on Netflix in the US and UK
Norris has been part of the Mad Max series for a long time, starting as a stuntman in The Road Warrior. “I was George’s go-to guy,” he shared with Wired. In the movie, he was Mel Gibson’s driving double and even played Bearclaw Mohawk in the marauder scenes.
Basically, every character that jumped onto the tanker was me. I’d change outfits, jump, then switch outfits and jump again from a different spot,
he explained.
Norris said stunt techniques have improved a lot since then. “You have to be very clever. Use every tool available to make action scenes look amazing while keeping everyone as safe as possible.”
Miller has made five Mad Max movies so far. People thought there would be a sequel to Fury Road, but instead, Miller made a prequel called Furiosa.
Mad Max: Fury Road is streaming on Netflix.