Simon Duggan, ACS, ASC, looks back at the making of George Miller’s "Furiosa"

What’s it like to shoot a Shakespeare play with giant trucks and motorbikes chasing each other ?

Simon Duggan : You know, George Miller had this script and this character in his pocket for about ten years... and I think as time went on, he realised how Shakespearean his saga really was. It might be a little less obvious in Fury Road, but from the moment Furiosa was given the green light, I believe he decided to fully embrace it. The chemistry that occurred with Chris Hemsworth on the film, the way he took on this character, really went in that direction. I remember the suggestions he made to George about Dementus, - for example the deep relationship that ties him to Furiosa -, he went beyond what had been thought of initially.

How did you discuss the aesthetics of the film beforehand ?

SD : In terms of visuals, certain elements had already been established in Fury Road. For example, the wasteland , or the "Citadel" ruled by Immortan Joe, were not to be changed. However, the visual universe was further developed in Furiosa, adding new communities and characters. The satellite towns like Bullet Town (the munitions factory) or Gas Town (the oil reserve), and the oasis at the beginning, where young Furiosa is kidnapped by marauders, all these new places gave us an opportunity for a fresh visual approach, while maintaining the tone of the previous film. The goal was to keep the visual line while offering something broader, whether in terms of setting, characters and above all the long time-scale of the narrative. My main source of visual inspiration was the monochromatic version of Fury Road, which immediately reminded me of the film noir aesthetics from the 40s and 50s. We approached this film in that spirit, often using very directional lighting, and focusing on the eyes and faces. Reading the actors’ eyes was our obsession, especially with Anya, whose gaze is truly the window into her character. We even allowed ourselves some very retro effects, such as the 50s-style light bands on the eyes, in the scene where she’s about to turn back just as she gets to Bullet Farm.

And yet the film seems more colourful than the colour reference in Fury Road...

SD : The main difference with Fury Road was our primary shooting location. Even though George originally wanted to film the previous chapter in Australia, he had to relocate the shoot to Namibia due to weather conditions. For Furiosa, we settled in the Broken Hills desert in New South Wales. The land’s tone was much warmer than in Namibia, with more orange hues, which I think added more saturation to the dominant tones. George told me he had to add saturation to the sand in Fury Road during post-production. That was absolutely not necessary here, as the setting was exactly what the story called for. From an organisational standpoint, the main crew shot 109 days, while the B crew, working in parallel, continued for a few more weeks (139 in total). All this took place during the Covid restrictions, with safety measures you probably experienced yourself… fortunately the shoot went really well, and the crew was wonderful. Even though everyone worked in a kind of protective bubble.

How did you prepare the shot breakdown for the colossal chase scene between the War Rig and the motorbikes ?

SD : In preparation, George relied on very precise pre-visualisations supervised by the second unit director Guy Norris and camera operator Alan Hardy. Using the Unreal game engine, which is widely popular among video game manufacturers, they were able to present George’s vision to the entire crew, including set pre-modelling, visual ideas, filming methods, and even the final colour palette. This was a very clear way for us to proceed, especially when dealing with such a complicated scene... most of the shots were shot on a 4km stretch of disused highway near the town of Hay, New South Wales. The truck and the stunt performers spent their time going up and down this stretch of road, with me and Peter McCaffrey (second unit director of cinematography) calculating the sun’s orientation to ensure continuity in the axes.
Generally, George wanted the camera to always be in motion with the action, and often in sequence shots. Very few cameras were set up far away in observation posts, or even simply rigged on vehicles. To meet his demands, we used a whole array of specialised tools, such as the Edge Arm remote crane, mounted on the roof of a car (thanks to the Performance Filmworks crew led by Dean Bayley, who came specially from the United States), operated by Rob Petrin (Edge Arm technician) and Brooks Guyer (camera operator). This crane filmed most of the shots around the War Rig truck, along with off-road camera buggies and a drone for the aerial shots. Apart from this setup, we also used four different models of Scorpio telescopic cranes and two Steadicams dedicated mainly for close-ups of the actors. The coordination with the second unit – who was sometimes several hundreds of kilometers away, was also well thought out. A dedicated satellite link was set up so that George could validate almost in real-time each shot taken by them, viewing each take as it was being filmed.

A word about this particular truck...

SD : Our production designer Colin Gibson and his crew really put all their talent into building this giant truck, with so many realistic details. In addition to the true to size truck, they also developed a replica of the cockpit installed on a vehicle driven from below by a hidden driver. This setup allowed us to shoot a lot of real-life scenes, where you can see the actual landscape passing by, attackers trying to break into the cockpit, etc. Some shots still required the use of blue screens, but not that many. It was a great luxury for us, because everything was designed for filming, with an array of rigs, and even a removable backdrop, allowing us to film easier POV shots for example. Then certain sequences, like those in Bullet Farm, show the truck at a standstill. We used the real truck, and everything was easier for us on camera !

Anything really complicated for you in this film ?

SD : One of the most complicated shots, I remember, is the one where Dementus’s monster truck crushes Furiosa’s car. The camera is on a Trinity rig, operated by Mark Goellnicht. First, we followed the marauders pulling Furiosa and Jack out of the car, then moved to Dementus, filming the whole scene in one shot, with two complete 360° turns around the action. This shot took us several hours to rehearse and choreograph with the actors, camera, machinery and lighting ! George’s idea was really to keep the narrative continuous without having to use editing. In fact, George shoots and edits his films simultaneously. Set up in a dedicated caravan with his editor, he could check the editor’s choices and very quickly validate each scene as we shot them.

What camera configuration did you choose ?

SD : Since George wanted enough space to be able to reframe or stabilise shots, if necessary, we shot the film in 16/9, framing in 2.39. The main camera was the Arri Alexa 65 in 6.5K, but we also used Alexa LFs in 4.5K, as well as RED Raptors in 8K and RED Komodos in 6K. In terms of lenses, Arri provided us with the DNA series, specially designed for the Alexa 65’s very large sensor. They specially developed two very wide-angle 25mm lenses for the film, named ’Furiosa’ and ’Mad Max’ !
We really tried to use the Arri 65 as often as possible, whether on the dollies or the remote cranes. The Australian desert landscape suddenly took on an almost 3D cinema-feel with this camera. The other, more compact cameras were used for vehicle mounts, Steadicam shots, and notably for the scene under the truck with Anya. Among the other lenses I chose were Fujinon Premista zooms, Angénieux, and Canon and Zeiss CP full frame primes. I can tell you that this film was a great opportunity for a very fruitful collaboration between Arri, Panavision and RED to gather all this equipment !

One of the film’s most powerful scenes is the intimate dialogue between Furiosa and Jack in the citadel... a bit like the calm before the storm.

SD : This scene is one of the rare moments where our two characters find themselves in a secret place, this small cave with water flowing behind them. It’s their own oasis in the heart of the citadel. A very intimate scene, where each reveals themselves to the other. In this scene, the faces were extremely important to us, and I tried to light the two actors quite simply, relying on the beautiful reflections created by the water, which naturally provided a nice fill. The rhythm is very different from the rest of the film, like a lull. I must confess that I really enjoy lighting faces. Of course, as a dop, it’s important to find the right atmosphere for the setting, and motivate the light. For example, in this scene, we had imagined that the sun could come in through cracks in the stone walls of this citadel.
As I described, I also like to reflect this light a lot, using the location to soften it, and then achieve this look on the actors. Besides, this set wasn’t even shot in a studio. We were in a big warehouse where the cave had been recreated. It was quite basic ; we didn’t have the infrastructure that a real studio can offer. In any case, the idea was really to contrast the interior scenes as much as possible with the harshness and often frantic pace of what was happening outside.

What about the outdoor scenes, did you struggle ?

SD : When we had the chance to shoot in the sun, the balance was very easy to find between the sky and the orange earth of the Australian desert. But it wasn’t the case every day, in fact quite the contrary. We had a lot of days with really bad weather, even rain at times. For that, I still had to use a lot of artificial light, and not just small sources. We had a set of 6 x 18kW HMIs Pars which we used regularly, and ensured a continuity in all the scenes, and even sometimes with the sun. We just had to find the right angle for each shot to direct them onto the truck or the actors. In the end, I realised that this sort of very bright, shiny, contrasted look probably made the exteriors look a bit artificial... But it’s something I like. There’s a theatrical side to it no doubt, again perhaps fitting well with the Shakespearean aspect you mentioned before.

(Interview by François Reumont for the AFC, translated from French by Chloé Finch))