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MILLER ORIGINALLY PLANNED<\/strong> to make \u201cFury Road\u201d in Broken Hill, Australia, where he had shot the second \u201cMad Max\u201d film, \u201cThe Road Warrior.\u201d When a freak superstorm turned the red, flat earth there into a flower garden, the production decamped to Namibia, but years later on \u201cFuriosa,\u201d the filmmakers vowed to shoot in Australia, come rain or come shine.<\/p>\n \u201cFuriosa\u201d began filming in spring 2022, and once again, the typically arid region was beset by record storms and flooding. \u201cIf we need to stop making films, we could become water diviners,\u201d said the film\u2019s action designer, Guy Norris.<\/p>\n The new reality required contingency plans, additional computer graphics and a lot of improvisation, like moving a huge action sequence from the wet patch of desert it had been earmarked for to a somewhat drier airport runway. \u201cYou have to deal with the chaos that comes with filmmaking, and there is a control underneath it,\u201d Mitchell said, \u201cbut you sure as hell don\u2019t control much.\u201d<\/p>\n The coronavirus also took a toll on key production members, including Miller, who at one point had to direct the film remotely while stricken. \u201cTwo o\u2019clock in the morning, your phone starts ringing: \u2018I can\u2019t come to work because I\u2019ve got Covid,\u2019\u201d said Lesley Vanderwalt, who oversaw the film\u2019s extensive hair-and-makeup team. \u201cYou were constantly juggling things.\u201d<\/p>\n Though \u201cFuriosa\u201d features fewer action sequences than \u201cFury Road,\u201d what\u2019s there is enormous: Its centerpiece action scene, which the production dubbed \u201cStowaway to Nowhere,\u201d took 78 days spread out over nine months. \u201cThat was easily one of the most incredible things I\u2019ve ever been a part of, and the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever been a part of,\u201d Taylor-Joy said.<\/p>\n Some 145 vehicles were crafted for the film, including an eye-popping motorcycle chariot for Dementus and an even bigger War Rig than the one Furiosa drove in the previous film. \u201cI was a great fan of the as-real-as-possible\u201d mandate of \u2018Fury Road,\u2019\u201d said Gibson, the production designer, who explained that Miller\u2019s expanded sense of scale on \u201cFuriosa\u201d required additional C.G.I. embellishment. As the biker horde led by Dementus swells to the thousands, so do the special effects needed to realize it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n