Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller is hard at work on his new movie, Three Thousand Years of Longing. And he's lined up an excellent cast, including Idris Elba (soon to be seen in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad) and Tilda Swinton.
However, don't go in expecting more automotive carnage and astonishing, psychedelic sandstorms. Miller isn't exactly forthcoming with the details, but he's promising that Three Thousand Years of Longing is the "anti-Mad Max".
"One thing I can tell you; it’s not [another Fury Road]," he tells Collider. "It’s a movie that is very strong visually, but it’s almost the opposite of Fury Road. It’s almost all interior and there’s a lot of conversation in it. There are action scenes, but they are, by the by, and I guess you could say it’s the anti-Mad Max."
Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise – Miller's career has always been distinguished by its versatility. From riotous black comedy with The Witches of Eastwick to moving, fact-based medical drama with Lorenzo's Oil, he's tackled numerous genres. He was also the screenwriter on family classic Babe, upgrading to director on sequel Babe: Pig in the City.
Even so, it's hard to escape the shadow of Fury Road, one of the most impressive action spectacles in recent years. Miller shot the movie when he was 67, belying his advancing years with a gear-crunching, assaultive onslaught of dystopian mayhem. Tom Hardy's titular Max was arguably overshadowed by Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa who will be getting her own origin story very soon. Anya Taylor-Joy will be playing the younger Furiosa with Miller again directing. The supporting cast includes Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Deadline reports that Three Thousand Years of Longing is now shooting in Miller's native Australia, adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols. Producer Doug Mitchell says that the sets are "some of the most spectacular I've ever seen." Given the film's reported $60 million budget (far less than Fury Road but hardly peanuts), we can surely hope for visual spectacle and excitement.
The movie is aiming for a September 2021 release, so stay tuned to the blog and Twitter @Cineworld for more details.
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