Everything about Mad Max: Fury Road is unlike your typical modern-day Hollywood blockbuster, and that's why it's going to go down as a pretty special summer movie once all the post-apocalyptic dust settles at your local cineplex.
Quite frankly, this is one helluva movie -- two hours of stunningly gorgeous apocalyptic mayhem -- and without saying anything more (no spoilers, we promise), just know that this is a piece of cinematic history you don't want to miss.
I mean, c'mon. Look at this!
If the trailers have taught us anything, it's that what truly makes Mad Max: Fury Road so special is the way it was shot, featuring more practical effects and physical stunt work than we're used to seeing in big blockbusters this time of year.
For all its modern-day bells and whistles, Mad Max: Fury Road still feels very much like it lives in another era -- and you get a real grimy taste of that in this behind-the-scenes video of Fury Road B-roll, in which we get to see how they pulled off some of the film's incredible stunts.
Another fascinating aspect of Fury Road is just how female-driven the film actually is. In an interview with Esquire, model-turned-actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley -- one of several women, old and young, featured in the film -- spoke about how director George Miller went to extreme lengths to make sure all of his female characters had distinguishable characteristics and personalities, and the kind of emotional depth you'd expect from a person whose life is essentially one long living nightmare.
How did he accomplish this? Well, for starters he flew in Eve Ensler, who wrote The Vagina Monologues.
Says Huntington-Whiteley, "We did extensive research with her. Eve herself has had a very intense life. She's spent time in the Congo working with rape victims and women who have had unthinkable things happen to them through the power of men's hands. We were able to pick her brain for a week. She told us the most tragic stories I've ever heard in my life, which gave us so much background to our characters. We really wanted to kind of showcase that. It was a privilege to have her around to make these characters something more then just five beautiful girls."
Why are there all these "beautiful" girls in such a dark, bleak movie? You'll have to wait a drop longer to get the answer to that question.
Mad Max: Fury Road hits theaters on May 15.
