Production has at last begun on the long planned ‘Mad Max 4’, in the same Australian territory of New South Wales where the original trilogy was shot. Sadly, however, there will be no Mel Gibson this time; but there will be the excellent Tom Hardy, soon to be seen in the summer blockbuster, ‘Inception’, alongside Leo DiCaprio.

Hardy is well known for his mesmerising acting and Method-like devotion to preparation. Arguably he’s one of the finest actors of his generation, with potential which has yet to be fully realized, despite having already displayed an awful lot of greatness.

But stepping into the shoes of such an iconic character was always going to be daunting.

Says Hardy on the matter: “There were many, many actors that would probably be right for Mad Max and there's plenty out there who could probably do an exceptional job to portray him. It's especially a challenge to step in the shoes of such an iconic character. So obviously I'm aware that I'm going to take a certain level of casualties when I go in and play him. If I concentrate on that, then it's obviously not going to be the best thing for the project.”

The latest movie has kept the title of the long mooted ‘Fury Road’ script, the original version of which took place some 200 years after the end of 'Mad Max 3'. So how, I hear you ask, could Max have been in it then? The idea had been that the precious commodity at the heart of civilization was no longer petrol; it was unpolluted human DNA. Which meant no more mutants. Mad Max was going to be cloned as ‘Son of Max’, just as Ellen Ripley was in ‘Alien Resurrection’.

But director and all-round creator of the Mad Max franchise, George Miller, has ditched that idea now it seems; preferring instead to go with a plain old reboot. (Although he is keeping that catchy title.) Something which Hardy has confirmed:

“It's a re-launch and revisit to the world, an entire restructuring,” revealed Hardy. “That's not to say that it's not picking up or leaving off from the Mad Max you know already, but it's a nice re-take on the entire world using the same character, depositing him in the same world, but bringing him up to date by 30 years. Obviously Mel would've been perfect for it but, for some reason, he's not doing it and I am.”

With Mel Gibson sensibly avoiding the Harrison Ford/Indiana Jones – ‘I’m getting too old for this $%@~’ – routine and bowing out (perhaps taking advice from Danny Glover’s Murtaugh in ‘Lethal Weapon’, who used to say this to him every five minutes) – given the success of casting relative unknown Chris Pine in ‘Star Trek’, Hardy’s casting seems a good one: a hugely respected character actor who is yet to become a huge star, but who’s stardom is surely only an inevitability. Indeed, Mad Max 4 could well be the film which launches him into the big-time. Or maybe it will be yet another cult movie.

Because by the time ‘Mad Max 3: Beyond The Thunderdome’ joined the series, it had essentially become a future western, so it’ll be interesting to see if the Eastwood-esque, man with no name, quality can be maintained in the modern era. Since Miller is making it on a moderate budget with some independent money, hopefully he can keep the slightly wobbly aspects of the originals, which made them so special. Otherwise he’ll be under pressure to make it appeal to a broader audience; a path which can go either way.

The only drawback to independence in production, of course, is that the money can disappear as quickly as it came; which might explain why the latest news from New South Wales is that production on ‘Mad Max 4’ has been put on hold, almost as soon as it began.

Let’s hope they get back on location soon; before the house of cards holding together this fragile movie production falls to pieces again.

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