Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Conflicting Reports on Mad Max 4

A little conflicting news for you today.

First I read on IESB.net that Mel Gibson thinks he's a bit too old to play Mad Max in any future movies. Specifically saying "...I don’t know. I’m gettin’ a little long in the tooth for that one." He also mentioned that he would never want to go back and play Riggs in another Lethal Weapon movie; for which I thank god.

Then literally just a day or two later I see through an AICN article that in an interview with In Focus magazine, Mad Max director, and helmer of the new animated flick Happy Feet, George Miller, is absolutely getting Mad Max 4 ready to roll. And that he's got Mel on board.

From the article:
In Focus: A story in Daily Variety dated Dec. 10, 2002 reported that Mel Gibson had signed on for a fourth “Mad Max” movie. Does that mean the rumors about “Mad Max 4” being a prequel — focusing on Max’s days in the Main Force Patrol — were always patently false?
GM: Yeah. Yeah, they are

Mad Max 4, aka Mad Max: Fury Road was apparently just about ready to start filming a few years ago in Namibia and then the financing fell apart and it was shelved. But the prep is really all pretty much done. Miller says he is doing one more small film before launching into Mad Max but that there's "a decent probability it will happen."

So there you go. Hooray for us. It looks like we're going to get more Max to enjoy. I have to say though I agree with Gibson here. He really is getting a bit too old to play the part. The character is so classic now, he's almost become iconic. And there is so much relevancy in topic and theme, especially in the "blood for oil" type of story that I think this could stand on it's own merits without Gibson in the Max role. I personally would love to see some new young unknown actor take a crack at the part, and then we can start a franchise. I always think it's weird to keep actors locked into characters. When a character has taken on a life of it own and achieved something more iconic like it did with James Bond, I think that changing the actor with the time is perfectly acceptable. And not to slight Gibson here, 'cause he made that role, but just like Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones, that ship has sailed. Or at least in my opinion it should have.

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