Eminem Could Have Starred In Mad Max: Fury Road

Vulture has published a massive oral history of 2015's Mad Max Fury Road, and the whole thing is well worth a read. There are several fascinating stories included in it, including news that director George Miller was looking at Marshall Mathers--AKA Eminem--for the role of Max. Tom Hardy ultimately got the part, starring in the acclaimed film alongside Charlize Theron as Furiosa.

Lead storyboard artist Mark Sexton said, "This is something I don't hear about very much and that George never admits, but I have a very, very, very strong memory of George talking about Eminem for Max."

Miller himself confirmed this, saying he found Eminem's performance in the movie 8 Mile to be "really interesting." Miller worked with 8 Mile co-star Brittany Murphy on Happy Feet, and the late actress told Miller that Eminem was a "wonderful talent."

After this, Sexton said he redrew some storyboards to put blonde hair on Max to match Eminem's. Miller also confirmed that the production team got in touch with Eminem, but it never went any further.

"We were going to shoot in Australia at that point, and he simply didn't want to leave home. I think he had the impression that if he could do it out of his home state, then he'd be up for it," Miller said.

Sexton said he's glad the part didn't go to Eminem. "Eminem, really? Whole different bent there. And the feminist story behind Mad Max: Fury Road might have taken a bit of a hammering if he'd played the role," Sexton said.

You can read the full Mad Max: Fury Road oral history here at Vulture.

Fury Road was praised upon release, and it won six Academy Awards. A new film focused on Furiosa is now in the works, with Queen's Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy playing Furiosa.