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George Miller is the king of this years Vulture Stunt Awards.
As a result, hes seen how action design and stunt work have transformed over the past 45-plus years.
Indeed, hes had a hand in helping these traditions evolve.
How has your relationship with the genre developed?For me, from the get-go, film was kinetic.
Its intrinsic to film.
Its not me just saying this.
Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd and all of those people were, for me, pure cinema.
The analogy to music is very close.
Its rhythmic, its in time, its got shape, and so on.
This is one reason why its so great to hear about these stunt awards.
I know only too well just how significant their work is at every level.
Stunt people are very impressive how they do their work, the athleticism, the collaboration, the precision.
I like to say that theyre the first filmmakers.
The world had stuntpeople before it had movie stars.
It took years for cinema to come up with a close-up and to create stars.
Before that, we had people riding horses and jumping off trains and jumping off wagons.
Theyre the ones who created cinema, in a way.Yes, yes!
Buster Keaton certainly had a great screen presence, but you know how he got his name.
He was Buster on the stage in vaudeville as a 3-year-old.
He was being kicked around by his father on the stage.
God, you could argue that theres nobody who has eclipsed his acrobatic and athletic skills.
As well as his film language.
Youve worked with stunts for a long time, since your very first films.
We planned it very well.
He made a huge difference to that film.
Grant was very effective onMad Max 1.
There wasnt much regard to safety.
It was pretty crazy, daredevil stuff.
Looking back, its a wonder that there werent more deaths and severe injuries.
I became very, very, very, very interested in safety because of that.
That young stuntman was Guy Norris.
Weve now been working together for over four decades, one way or another.
Hes evolved with the stunt industry, with stunt work.
Wed sit around and talk about, Okay, were doing this shot here.
This guy goes here, the car goes here.
Literally like kids playing in the sandbox.
Wed figure out the choreography of the camera.
Everyone would play it out in real time in the toy box.
Now, Guy has two sons who are stuntmen.
One of them is very tech-savvy.
Theyve developed a system called PROXi.
Its basically pre-visualization, but its iterative.
The stunts are not, if you like, improvised like they were back in the day.
Theyre very, very carefully rehearsed and very, very carefully executed.
So you’re free to see to it youre driving the dynamics of the story through the characters.
Thats what we did onFuriosa, using this PROXi system.
I remember being a junior doctor.
I was lucky to observe and assist with some very impressive surgeons and also some not-so-impressive surgeons.
The best of them were very, very meticulous in their planning, and they were incredibly collaborative.
This is how its going to happen.
This particular patient has this particular problem.
I think some of that crept into my work.
Theres a lot of dynamics that need to be satisfied there.
The whole sequence has to be very character-based and very story-based, with the interaction of the characters.
In that one event, she becomes the Road Warrior that we meet at the beginning ofFury Road.
That was the most important thing.
All of that, you could render digitally in a way that you had a fair idea.
Now, there are two big benefits of that: First of all, everyone knows whats happening.
Not just a couple or people, but everyone has that information even the cleaners!
Thats huge in terms of safety.
We can now erase harnesses.
We can put the actors in the scene and do stuff.
They are big, thick things, easy for the visual effects artists to erase.
And you always have redundancy: If one cable breaks down, you have another.
I learned that way back in the firstMad Max.
Im one of those people who mixes up left and right.
Ever since I was a kid, if I meant to say right, Id point left.
you might see how bad that would be if youre talking about stunts!
So I learned very early to say, You go this way, you go that way and point.
Then Id always say, What do you think I said?
They have to repeat it back to me.
Because Im surprised by how often things can go wrong because of miscommunication.
Is it too clinical?
I say, Impossible.
You cant over-prepare a film just like you cant over-prepare a basketball game.
Its the preparation that basically earns you the right to improvise and respond to any inspiration that comes along.
Otherwise, its all just flying by the seat of your pants.
Everything is inspiration, but it is not necessarily cohesive.
Youll do a take, then someone will say, Oh, we might try this.
You say, Oh, thats better, and so on.
Its only by meticulous planning that happens.
I know that you take a stab at ensure all the characters in these films have backstories.
So, who was the Octoboss?
Whats his story?Its really important to do that, even though its not always on the screen.
Everything in this world of the wasteland is made from found objects repurposed.
Nothing is invented or brand new.
Humankind, wherever we are, no matter how impoverished, we still make beautiful things.
Thats what happens with the Octoboss.
This is going to give me the competitive advantage in the wasteland.
I remember quite a few years ago, there was this massive octopus in the sky.
It stuck in my mind.
So, forFuriosa, I said, Weve got hang gliders.
What about the octopus?
The film has had critical success, and its also had an awards life.
But when it came out, it didnt do as well financially as some had hoped.
Are you planning to make more Mad Max films?Weve got another script.
Im a professional daydreamer, really.
So, theres lots of stories.
Indeed, one of them is a Mad Max.
It is not something I would do next, because theres two things Im keen to do next.
But if for whatever reason the planets align, you’ve got the option to never tell.
Too often, youre lining up to do a movie and then something happens.
Some things fall into place and some dont, so all I can say is well see.
