Meet the New Mad Max
As previously rumoured, the British actor Tom Hardy has been cast as “Mad” Max Rockatansky in the upcoming fourth Mad Max film, tentatively named Mad Max 4: Fury Road. Most people had expected the role to go to the rising star Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Avatar), seing as he is Australian, the movie is about an Australian, and word on the street was that series creator George Miller was looking to cast an Australian for the role. Well, evidently the word on the street was wrong. So who is this Hardy fella? He hasn’t done all that much, but most notably he had a major role in Layer Cake from 2004, portrayed Charles Bronson in Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson from 2008 and had the role of Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis back in 2002.
What the new movie will be about is still unknown, but the film will pick up not too long after the happenings of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome from 1985, the third and (sadly) last movie with Mel Gibson in the role of Mad Max, the iconic character that first kickstarted Gibson’s blockbuster career. The movie’s female lead will be the always lovely Charlize Theron, so that alone brings the flick up a bit in my book, though I am still sad that it won’t have the Gibson effect. But under the circumstances Hardy is a pretty good choice, at least talent-wise, so we’ll see how this all turns out. What do you think, is Hardy a good pick or should the role have gone to Worthington?
Comments (11)
GOD NO!
Posted by jaime on November 1st, 2009Anyone disagreeing with this probably hasn’t seen BRONSON yet…
Posted by Fatbologna on November 1st, 2009Oh no! Havent seen Bronson but i was made to sit through the fucking god awful Nemesis.
Posted by AdamH on November 1st, 2009Yeah i have see it ya MOOK, just because your “ok” in one movie will NOT make you good enough to be Mad Max!
Posted by jaime on November 1st, 2009The new just keeps getting worse and worse for me on this film.
Road Warrior: Lean and mean 4 million dollar budget, a pre-famous Gibson + no other famous Hollywood types. Very non-Hollywood. All practical effects (pre CGI era)
Mad Mad 4: 100 million dollar budget!!! No Gibson, and a world famous ultra-hot instantly recognizable movie star female co-star. Something smacks of Hollywood and CGI car crashes and Rap/Metal fusion soundtrack album tie-in type stuff.
Normally I’d be happy that they choose an obscure non emo-boy for the lead role to replace Gibson, but then they turn around and cast one of the worlds most beautiful and instantly recognizable starlets as a lead… that bums me out.
I know it’s wishful thinking but I think I’d prefer a 25 million dollar budget and no famous movie stars. The franchise recognition alone would ensure huge a huge ROI.
Posted by Damndirtyape on November 2nd, 2009Hardy is an excellent actor with a lot more class than Worthington. I’m not sure what the film will be like but Hardy will be fine.
Posted by John on November 2nd, 2009no.
Posted by Bob The Slob on November 2nd, 2009Tom Hardy is a fantastic actor and very surprising choice. Good for them.
Posted by Swarez on November 2nd, 2009My interest just went up a notch.
Those who judge Hardy by Nemesis alone are idiots (and he was good in that as well)
If I were to judge Hardy by nemesis alone I would say he’s a good actor. He was great in Bronson though, gives Daniel Day-Lewis a run for his money. Too bad that movie sucks shit. Tom Hardy is a great new choice to try and build something around in my opinion.
Posted by Henrik on November 2nd, 2009So it’s not a reboot? And it’s not going to have Max even though it’s about Max. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get over that.
Posted by Ian on November 3rd, 2009I think either Hardy or Worthington would be an inspired choice… Miller may not go the CGI route, although these days, they use it for just about everything.
Posted by Gil James Bavel on November 10th, 2009I say, let’s at least give it a chance before giving it the finger. It’s all about the story, and since we know nothing about the story yet, it’s clearly premature to make a decision about it.
All we know so far is it has the right director, is being filmed in the right locale, and has damned fine talent in it.
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