The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road
Author: Abbie Bernstein
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 1-7832-9816-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-7832-9816-7
Disclosure: A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.
This is the official art book of the 2015 motion picture “Mad Max: Fury Road”, written by Abbie Bernstein, the author of many authorized film books and a regular writer for such pop-culture magazines as “Buzzy” and “Fangoria”; and with a foreword by producer George Miller and an afterword by production designer Brendan McCarthy. Miller and McCarthy also co-wrote the screenplay.
“The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road” is a lavish, full-color, oversized (12.2 x 11.1 inches, 176 pages, 3+ pounds) hardbound $39.95 art book on the making of the May 2015 science-fiction theatrical feature. The movie is “live-action”; actually a combination of live photography, futuristic sets and models, and computer generated imagery (CGI). The book contains very few finished screen shots; instead it is mostly a collection of the original storyboard and concept design art by McCarthy, Peter Pound, Mark Sexton, Paul Jeacock, Oliver Powels, and Maeda Mahiro. Photographs of the actors and vehicles, models, and masks are credited to Jasin Boland and Colin Gibson. There is extensive commentary that provides the film’s story.
“Mad Max: Fury Road” is the 2015 sequel to the original cinematic trilogy: “Mad Max” (1979), “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (1981), and “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” (1985). The setting is the Wasteland, 45 years after an apocalyptic nuclear war has destroyed civilization, including Australia, leaving a bleak desert. (The book reveals that the movie was shot in the Namibian deserts.) Loner and wanderer Max Rockatansky (played by Mel Gibson in the first three movies; by Tom Hardy here) is captured by the War Boys, the army of tyrannical dictator Immortan Joe who rules in his area dominated by his castle-like stronghold The Citadel. It includes the nearby towns of Gas Town and Bullet Farm, and such tribes as the Buzzards and the Rock Riders. Everything is filthy and grungy, with a biker-gang look. Practically everyone has a personalized vehicle modified for battle, with such names as the Gigahorse, the War Rig, and the Doof Wagon. The individuals besides villain Immortan Joe have names like Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron, the female lead), Coma the Doof, Rictus Erectus, Nux, The People Eater, The Splendid Angharad, Toast the Knowing, Cheedo the Fragile, Miss Giddy, and Corpus Colossus.
The plot follows Max’s capture to become an involuntary blood donor, the description of Immortan Joe’s ultra-biker-gang culture, the escape of Furiosa from Joe’s Citadel with his harem of wives; his pursuit of them across the Wasteland with his War Boys, including Nux and Nux’s slave Max; and Max’s escape and joining Furiosa and the Wives to help them flee from Joe and his deadly “civilization”.
The book features the storyboard art, individual sketches, and models of the sets, vehicles personalized for maximum deadliness, ornaments, weapons, warrior masks, and the like; plus the concept art of the main characters and their costumes.
A blurb on the book for the movie calls it a “high-octane Road War” chase across a vast, lifeless desert. “The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road” is an ideal purchase for fans of the movie, and for those interested in designing a post-apocalyptic, ruined-Earth movie or TV drama.
