Mad Max: Fury Road Going Into Production

[Broccoli]

Mel Gibson is too "old"? WTF? He's not even 55 yet. What's the matter here--they can't think up any kind of interesting adventure that concerns Max in his middle-age years? That's pathetic.

Maybe Gibson and the filmmakers wanted to avoid the recent trend of 80s-era movie heroes coming back out of retirement for "one more adventure". We got it with Rambo, Rocky, Indiana Jones, John McClaine, and it is looking more likely that it'll happen with the Ghostbusters as well.

Perhaps, they wanted Mad Max to stay young.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Gibson refusing to reprise the role because HE feels he's too old and out of shape (and probably just doesn't want to work that hard) is very different than the "Max" character being dropped because the film-makers felt the actor was too old.

But is the character being dropped? I wasn't aware of that - I understood it was just a re-casting, not a movie about Son of Max or whatever. Had Mel been willing to do the movie, it would have proceeded with him in it, playing Middle-Aged Max. He's not, so the film-makers have had to adapt.

I suppose they could have re-cast him with someone of Mel's age or vintage but who? Its hard to imagine an equally well-known or experienced actor wanting to fill Gibbo's shoes. Would Bruce Willis or the like be in a hurry to invite comparisons with the young Mel? Doubtful. Much easier to replace him with a young star who's anxious to hit the big league.

Frankly, if Gibson turned down this opportunity, it was a mistake on his part. His "eccentricities" have kind of put his career into a tail-spin the last couple years. He could do with a "return-to-form" kind of move that might earn him some good will.

Perhaps he feels that the forthcoming Edge of Darkness gives him a better shot at that than re-treading old glories. As someone else (almost) said, perhaps he doesn't want to be seen to be yet another aging action star re-visiting his past in desperate need of a hit.

To be fair to Gibson, whatever else you may think of him, he's never taken the easy option. He turned down Lethal Weapon IV and James Bond to make Braveheart (he only did LW4 some years later) and has since turned down LW IV. As for his Aramaic-dialogue gorefest The Passion of The Christ and his Mayan-speaking no-name action-fest Apocalypto, they certainly show an independence and sense of adventure that the decisions by Ford, Willis, Stallone etc to revisit their best-known heroes have lacked.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Sadly, I recall when the first "Lethal Weapon" movie came out and everyone was so shocked at how good Gibson was at playing a nut-job. What we hadn't yet discovered was that in reality Gibson WAS a nut-job doing a moderately good job of playing a sane person in his daily life.

You couldn't tell from his bad boy behavior in the 1980's (including a drunk driving incident in Toronto during the filming of Mrs Soffel) that he was somewhat wild? Also, his dad's a right-wing fundie nutbar, too, which apparently rubbed off on Mel.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

and it is looking more likely that it'll happen with the Ghostbusters as well.

The Ghostbusters franchise needs younger actors and characters, not the originals. Also, other than the video game, Bill Murray doesn't seem to want to be doing these movies anymore; he barely was that involved in the last one.

 

[payndz201]

Mad Max is okay and all, but what I really want to see is a 21st century reimagining of BATTLETRUCK.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Looks like Hardy will be playing Max opposite Charlize Theron, as rumoured. He actually looks quite a bit like Gibson in the photo that accompanies this story - well, more than he resembled Patrick Stewart.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42907