While the introduction of the swaying Pole Cats from “Mad Max: Fury Road” were inspired in part by Cirque du Soleil (and terrified director George Mller), the idea for these aerial attacks, which also includes a motorized hang glider with a sand surfer hanging from it, was first broached during development for the 2015 movie. Miller recalled:
“In ‘Fury Road,’ we had a scene at night where there was somebody — there was a scene, a very brief scene, where someone was seen flying around on some sort of parasail sailing thing. It was storyboarded. But when we came to shooting it, or even long before we were going to shoot it, we thought, ‘It’s unnecessary.’ But the idea was there.”
Reminding Miller of that innovative enhancement to the action was one of the “Mad Max” franchise’s longtime stuntmen, Guy Norris, who has been working with Miller for over 40 years, since as far back as “The Road Warrior.” Miller explained:
“I remember he said, as we were devising the sequence, he said, ‘How about we go back to these flying people in the air so we’re not only shooting underneath the war rig, or inside the cabin of the war rig, or on top of it or the back of it, but let’s have it attack from above, rather than the Pole Cats.’ So that’s how we started on that sequence.”
The result adds a thrilling new wrinkle to the kind of action we’re used to seeing from “Mad Max,” and it mixes up the formula just enough to give Furiosa (and Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack) an awesome obstacle to overcome. The aerial attacks not only bring a new sense of danger to the proceedings, but they also allow for even more explosive moments, literally, especially when they get tangled up in the deadly spinning “bommy knocker.”
For more of our interview with “Furiosa” director George Miller, check out the latest episode of the /Film Daily podcast below:
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