Theron, Hardy Confirmed for Mad Max 4

Published by Jeff Leins on: October 29th, 2009

Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy have been confirmed as “in negotiations” for Mad Max : Fury Road (Mad Max 4).

Mel Gibson is not returning as Max Rockatansky because frankly he’s too old, and Miller is looking at a timeline not long after the events of 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, according to THR (and backed up by Variety).  Though Gibson was considering in 2003 when the project was first attempted.

It’s still unclear whether Tom Hardy will play Max or if he’s supposed to be a new character in the wasteland populated by violent gangs.  Story details are being kept secret by Miller, though several casting rumors have leaked in the past few months.  Jeremy Renner and Sam Worthington’s names also surfaced along with Hardy and Theron.  We’ll let you know if anything changes though.

Pre-production started this week on the movie which will eventually shoot in New South Wales, Australia around August 2010.  Miller is planning a $100 million budget for 30 weeks (!) of filming, according to an Aussie source (hi to the readers from Down Under).

In this YouTube video, Miller discusses his plans for the fourth installment and unveils some post-apocalyptic vehicles he’s been working on.  He confirms he was “furiously casting” for six or seven weeks, but claimed he didn’t know who the actors were yet.  That was a week ago, and now the trades are all over it.  Here are two Mad Max 4 vehicles: