In an age when movie trailers have become increasingly formulaic, it’s rare for a teaser to really cut through, create a proper buzz and become a cultural talking point. But such was the case almost a decade ago, when the world got its first glimpse of Mad Max: Fury Road.  Boasting stunning action sequences in underground warrens, spine-tingling post-apocalyptic landscapes and – most spectacularly – a kinetic car chase through a desert sandstorm, this was truly blockbuster movie-making cranked up to 11. The knowledge that the mastermind of the Mad Max franchise, director George Miller, was back onboard to oversee another installment, 30 years after the previous outing Beyond Thunderdome, further contributed to the heightened sense of anticipation.

Amazingly, when Fury Road finally roared into cinemas on May 15, 2015, if anything it actually exceeded expectations. The movie starred Charlize Theron in the lead role of Imperator Furiosa, who joined forces with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) to protect the Five Wives of cult leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). With Joe’s army setting out in pursuit of Furiosa and co. across the Australian outback, the scene was set for an unforgettable thrill ride.

Miller had challenged himself to see if he could make a movie consisting of one long, amped up car chase, and the results were nothing short of phenomenal. I remember going to see Mad Max in Cineworld on Dublin’s Parnell Street shortly after it opened, and being alternately terrified, entranced and utterly exhilarated – the experience genuinely was like stepping aboard a rollercoaster. In addition, the movie’s feminist themes and eco-consciousness gave it a very zeitgeist-y feel.

I was convinced it was an instant classic, and in the pub following Christmas, I vividly recall making the case to a couple of friends that it was possibly the greatest action movie ever made. Although they were decidedly sceptical, accusing me of a hopeless level of recency bias, in the years since its release, Fury Road has been widely acknowledged as belonging in the pantheon of all-time action classics. Critically acclaimed at the time of its arrival, Fury Road grossed $380m at the box office and quickly attracted a feverish level of fandom. In the best Hollywood tradition, meanwhile, the lengthy development process became almost as famous as the movie itself.

CULT CLASSIC

A one-time Sydney-based doctor who made the pivot to filmmaking, Miller first made an international splash 45 years ago with the original Mad Max, an enduring cult classic that – having grossed $100 million on a budget of 400,000 Australian dollars – earned a Guinness Book Of Records award for ‘Most Profitable Film’. Ever since, the director’s attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile for his creation has become the stuff of legend.

Indeed, with several entries in the series now considered action landmarks, Mad Max stands apart as an artistic achievement in franchise filmmaking, bar outliers like the Alien movies and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

Released at Christmas 1981, and co-written with Miller’s fellow Aussie Terry Hayes, Mad Max 2 ratcheted up the thrills still further. It also created a post-apocalyptic punk aesthetic whose influence continues to be felt in movies, TV, literature, video games and beyond (Prime Video’s smash game adaptation, Fallout, is but the most recent hit to take inspiration from Mad Max 2).

Despite boasting a third straight bravura performance from Mel Gibson as Max, and an inspired turn from Tina Turner as his foe Auntie Entity, ’85’s Beyond Thunderdome was the first outing to receive a muted response, before Miller eventually returned to previous heights with Fury Road.

But as detailed in New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan’s 2022 oral history Blood, Sweat & Chrome – The Wild And True Story Of Mad Max: Fury Road – one of the best film books of the past decade – the movie’s development was an epic unto itself. Having first conceived of the basic plot in the late ’80s, Miller continued writing and storyboarding throughout the ’90s, and at one point considered Sigourney Weaver for the role of Furiosa, opposite Gibson as Max (a tantalising prospect).

However, the September 11 attacks caused the American dollar to collapse against the Australia dollar, resulting in problems with the movie’s financing. Subsequently, the Iraq war prompted security concerns, as well as travel and shipping issues with Miller’s plan to shoot in the Namibian desert. Eventually, filming kicked off in Namibia in July 2012, with further shooting taking place in South Africa, although this was only the start of the trials and tribulations.

Fury Road’s extraordinary action sequences required incredible levels of logistical co-ordination, while elsewhere, as detailed to headline-grabbing effect in Buchanan’s book, there were on-set tensions between Theron and Hardy. Ultimately, however, the film proved more than worth the hardship.

As well as winning six Oscars, and receiving rapturous approval from critics and audiences, Fury Road was also hailed by Miller’s peers in the industry, with Shaun Of The Dead and Baby Driver director Edgar Wright amongst its biggest advocates.

“Quentin Tarantino initially refused to see it because it didn’t have Mel Gibson in it,” Wright commented in Blood, Sweat & Chrome, “and we had a heated discussion about it. He goes, ‘I love George, but I can’t see it, not without Mel Gibson’. Then the next time I spoke to him, I said, ‘Have you seen Fury Road yet?’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, yeah. It’s a masterpiece.’ He had completely 180’d on it.”

Wright would actually have a role to play in Furiosa, with Miller casting English star Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role on the back her performance in Wright’s 2021 psychological horror Last Night In Soho. The actress was an inspired choice for the part, having built a hugely impressive CV in recent years. As well as impressing in one of the decade’s best Irish movies, Eoin Macken’s adaptation of Rob Doyle’ cult novel Here Are The Young Men, Taylor-Joy went supernova in Netflix’s chess drama The Queen’s Gambit, a lockdown smash.

Miller’s painstaking attention to detail was again in evidence in the development of Furiosa, with the script initially being written 15 years ago during the planning of Fury Road, as the director sought to work out the back stories of each of the main protagonists. Early on, it was even considered as an anime project called The Peach, before Miller decided to proceed with it as a feature.

HIGH OCTANE EXTRAVAGANZA

The early signs again look highly encouraging, with the movie boasting another memorable trailer. Featuring Australian star Chris Hemsworth opposite Taylor-Joy as the villainous Warlord Dementus, the story sees young Furiosa being snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers by Dementus’ biker gang, subsequent to which she has to plot her way home through the treacherous Wasteland.

Propelled by a banging electro reworking of David Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, the Furiosa trailer is a rip-roaring mix of medieval-influenced costumes and sets, epic desert vistas and the obligatory breathtaking car chases. Incredibly, Miller is looking to equal if not surpass the high octane extravaganza of Fury Road, with one 15-minute action sequence in Furiosa  requiring 200 stunt people and a 78-day shoot.

Recently receiving the International Career Achievement in Cinema award at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Miller explained why he’s still creating Mad Max movies.

“They’re addictive to make,” he said. “When Fury Road worked, I thought, ‘This is a rich story to tell.’ It’s different – you don’t want a film to be a repetition of what you’ve just done, it has to be uniquely familiar, as I like to say, and that led to Furiosa.”

Set to premiere at Cannes this month before its worldwide release, Furiosa could scarcely be more anticipated by cinema-goers, while Miller – who at nearly 80, maintains an intense work schedule similar to fellow veterans Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott – has previously spoken of another possible Mad Max installment titled The Wasteland. But first, it’s time for the mouthwatering prospect of Furiosa. Time to buckle up: 2024 once again belongs to the mad.

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is released on May 24.