Mad Max fans thought the ’70s and ’80s threequel would be it for George Miller’s beloved film series, so imagine the surprise when an Oscar-winning follow-up came 30 years later that was arguably better than any of the previous movies. The wild critical and commercial success of Mad Max: Fury Road led to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which critics loved, and fans are still itching for more from the acclaimed Australian director. MovieWeb recently spoke with performer Ben Smith-Petersen (currently starring in Shudder’s The Dead Thing), who worked as a stunt professional on both of Miller’s modern Mad Max films, and we learned more about what the auteur is really like behind-the-scenes.
“George is amazing… For a film that’s happening at the scale that those films are happening, his attention to detail is just incredible,” Smith-Petersen told MovieWeb, adding an incredible anecdote from set:
“I watched him stop a shot — we were shooting a massive explosion, this fuel tanker explodes. It’s like, this thing is big, and we’re only doing it once. And he stopped the roll and walked out to the dummy — there’s a Max dummy in this, because you can’t blow real people up in that much fire — and cut the hair of the wig on the dummy by himself. Like, this guy just cares, down to the detail. It’s so cool. It’s so layered. And, you know, on both of these films, the amount of stunt people are in the hundreds, but he remembers everybody’s name and will address you by name.”
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MovieWeb spoke with Smith-Petersen while he was promoting his new Shudder film The Dead Thing, a chilly romantic thriller arriving just in time for Valentine’s Day. Joining our interview was the film’s director, Elric Kane, who mentioned a funny behind-the-scenes connection between The Dead Thing and Miller’s Furiosa:
“[George] is also responsible for [Ben’s] haircut in our movie, because I cast Ben when Ben looked like this [with long hair in the interview], and then Ben goes to me, ‘Oh, just so you know, I have to pop over to Australia for a second.’ And then he had to shave his head. And I was like — it took a while for me to go, ‘Okay, no, it kind of works.’ It’s a bit skull-like, and, you know, it works for our movie, too. But thanks, George.”
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Smith-Petersen (who is married to famed actress Riley Keough in real life) confirmed in our interview that they just celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary. Ironically, The Dead Thing is heavily focused on all those modern dating apps out there, something he is thus very much unfamiliar with. His co-star Blu Hunt was also part of our interview and spoke about how this impacts Ben’s rather shady, mysterious presence in their edgy new thriller. “It does fit fine for [his] character, though, because he’s kind of forgotten,” said Hunt. “It’s all very ethereal for him, right? He’s a bit confused. I think it’s like, he doesn’t know what he’s fascinated by, but he’s, like, myopically focused on who’s in front of him.”
The Dead Thing will begin streaming on Shudder Friday.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
