George Miller thought the first MAD MAX movie was a ‘complete disaster’ and wasn’t cut out to be a director

I was just starting high school when it was first introduced to me George MillerThe 1979 movie Crazy Maximus, and it’s one of those movies that piqued my interest in seeking out and watching older movies. That film blew me away along with the rest of the films in the franchise, and it’s so crazy to think that Miller thought the film was a total disaster and that he failed as a director!

Speaking of making the project work, he told The Guardian in an earlier interview: ‘My partner, Byron Kennedy, and I had raised a rather meager budget from our closest friends at school. So there was an obligation to get them back. backwards”. their money. It was a terrible thing if we didn’t.”

That first film was made on a budget of less than $400,000, and when he came out to start shooting the film, he had no idea it was going to be as difficult as he thought. Miller had never directed a film before, making Mad Max was the first time he set foot on a film set and the process was overwhelming.

Miller recalled in an interview with USA Today, “The first one wasn’t funny at all to be honest. I just figured if you had a movie all mapped out and worked out in your head, you could just walk out and it was just a matter of running it.” I didn’t realize you were going to have all sorts of weird landmines on the road, as if the weather wasn’t what you expected that day.

One of the other problems he faced with such a small budget was that he couldn’t afford to hire a publisher. So, he edited the film himself! This turned into a year-long process and during that time he was constantly reminded of all the mistakes he made as a director.

Miller said: “I was faced with the evidence of what I hadn’t done, what I hadn’t managed to do. Why did I put the camera there? Why didn’t I ask the actors to go faster? Every day facing this movie, this wreck.”

As you can imagine, that wore him down, it wore down his confidence and the director thought he was “a complete mess,” and he didn’t think he was cut out to be a director. He said, “In terms of what I wanted to do. I really thought I wasn’t cut out to make movies.”

But the film was a huge success! It grossed over $100 million at the box office and for a time held a Guinness World Record for highest box office return to budget ratio!

That unexpected success inspired Miller to keep going and despite the difficult time he had making the first film, he was ready to throw himself back into the pit and do it all over again with the sequel, The road warrior. There was a lot of pressure to make that sequel, but he felt he could “do a better job with a second film.” It also didn’t hurt to have a bigger budget to play with.

He definitely did a better job the second time around because The Road Warrior is still considered one of the greatest action movies of all time.

Miller is keeping the franchise alive and is currently working on the next film set in that desolate world. Mad Max: Furiouswhich I can’t wait to see!