Warner Bros
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ was originally going to be an anime by a Studio Ghibli veteran
The next Mad Max film starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth has been in development for over 15 years, and it wasn’t always a live-action production.
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’, the next entry of the legendary series of post-apocalyptic movies starring Mel Gibson and prequel to the previous installment ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ with Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, both created and directed by George Miller, is one of the most anticipated movies of 2024. The film has a most curious origin, as the project has been in development for 15 years, originally conceived as an anime. And not just any regular anime, as it was going to be spearheaded by a veteran from Studio Ghibli. This is what the producer of the film, Doug Mitchel, revealed in a recent interview with Total Film (via GamesRadar).
‘Furiosa’ and its distant origin as an anime
The movie that is set to hit theaters around the world next May starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the role of a young Furiosa alongside Chris Hemsworth in the role of a ruthless villain, was actually conceived as an anime movie over 15 years ago, with the veteran of Studio Ghibli Mahiro Maeda at the head of the project. However, with the start of production of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the project was put on pause; until now:
“So Furiosa was ready, in a story sense, 15 years ago. And it’s been percolating, the way things do in George [Miller]’s brain, ever since,” said the film’s producer, Doug Mitchel, revealing its origin as an anime movie. This anime adaptation of the ‘Mad Max’ universe was going to be called ‘The Peach’, and, although not many details have been revealed about it, it would surely have presented an aesthetic very similar to what was recently seen in the series in live-action, since Maeda ended up working on the artistic design of ‘Fury Road’.
Mahiro Maeda is a character designer, animator, and director with extensive experience in the anime industry; He’s responsible for several of the mechas/giant robots/creatures of ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’, in addition to collaborating in such renowned anime as ‘Samurai Champloo’, ‘Macross’ and ‘The Animatrix’. Although some of his most recognized works were within Studio Ghibli, in films like ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ and ‘Porco Rosso’, among others.
‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ opens in theaters on May 24.