Minutes after receiving his fifth and sixth Oscar nominations for producing and directing “Mad Max: Fury Road,” George Miller told TheWrap that contrary to recent reports, he is far from done with the franchise, which has endured in the public consciousness since 1979.
Asked whether he was truly done with Mad Max and the postapocalyptic universe the character inhabits, Miller said he was misquoted after traveling for 27 hours.
“That was a completely garbled interview. I was in New York and it was so noisy and the journalist was asking me questions on a red carpet at the National Board of Review,” he said. “She completely got the wrong fragments of information that were just not true. I said no, [another ‘Mad Max’ movie] will not be next, and she took that to mean I never wanted to make another ‘Mad Max.’ It won’t necessarily be next, but I have two more stories.”
After scoring a DGA nomination earlier this week, Miller found himself among the Academy’s directing nominees for the first time.
He had previously won an Oscar for producing the animated feature “Happy Feet,” while he had been nominated for writing “Lorenzo’s Oil” and “Babe,” the latter of which also earned him a Best Picture nomination as a producer.
“Mad Max: Fury Road” grossed $375 million worldwide on a reported production budget of $150 million. The film didn’t quite turn a profit but it resonated with critics and audiences all over the world, scoring a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film appeared on numerous Top 10 lists and was named Best Picture by many regional critics groups.
Backed by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, “Mad Max: Fury Road” also bucked the trend of late-year releases being the only movies up for the Big Prize.
Of the Best Picture nominees, it was released the earliest — all the way back in May. Past Oscar winners that were released in the first half of the year include “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Crash” and “The Hurt Locker.”