It's been 4 years since George Miller gave us "Mad Max: Fury Road," we all expected his next film to be the purportedly titled sequel, "Mad Max: Wasteland," alas that project has had so many delays, due in part to legal issues, that its future is TBA. So what's old Georgie boy to do in the meantime? How about creating a whole other world on-screen. Miller will helm "Three Thousand Years of Longing" which will star Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba. Miller has penned the script and will direct as well. Plot details have been kept a secret, but it will start shooting any week now. But that still hasn’t stopped Miller from dreaming about ‘Wasteland’ …
Speaking with Deadline, Miller just whets our appetites by saying ‘Wasteland’ is coming up right after "Three Thousand Years of Longing": “I’m not done with the Mad Max story and I think you have to be a multitasker, and there’s certainly another Mad Max coming down the pike after this,” Miller said. “We’re in preparation on that as well. It’s an interesting question, the idea of multitasking. I discuss this with other filmmakers and I think what happens to me is that when you’re working on one thing, and you get so distracted and focused on that one thing, it’s like a creative holiday to focus on the other one for a bit. It helps you achieve that objectivity, to look at the thing afresh each time and say, I thought I was doing this, but it doesn’t seem to be the case now.”
Miller was apparently in pre-production on "Mad Max: the Wasteland" and even had Tom Hardy signed up to do two more films. That is until Miller sued his studio Warner Bros. for not paying him a bonus that was contractually obligated by contract. Producer Kennedy Miller Mitchell and the director claim that the WB owed a lot of money to Miller's production company, specifically $7 million for coming in under budget during the production. The WB claimed they actually went over budget. The problem is reshoots cost $31 million. However, Miller’s production company says the deal was to not include these costs in the cost of the film, thus the claim of going under-budget.
Speaking of chicken, Miller himself ain't no spring chicken, he's 73-years-old, the further ‘Wasteland’ is delayed the more unlikely he would have the stamina and willingness to embark on making a "Mad Max" sequel, which, by all accounts, is a grueling experience. The amount of detail to have to put into these movies is not like, say, John Huston, in his final years, directing a chamber piece via wheelchair as he did with "Prizzi's Honor" and "The Dead."
Coppola lost more than $100M on "Megalopolis," got hammered for it, and he knows the clock is running out for one more film. If "Glimpses of the Moon" is that film, someone needs to write the check soon.