Mad Max: Michael Fassbender Recalls “Awful” Fury Road Audition

Mad Max: Fury Road blitzed its way into theaters over a decade ago, with Tom Hardy in the titular role and Charlize Theron as Furiosa, the new addition to the universe and the star of the recent prequel film – played by Anya Taylor Joy. It was a reintroduction to the world of George Miller’s post-apocalypse, heightened and filled to the brim with nitro for a new modern audience. It would become the highest-grossing film in the entire franchise and sparked a bit of a resurgence for Miller. That doesn’t mean it didn’t come with some difficulties in production. Hardy wasn’t the first actor to take a shot at playing Max, decades after Mel Gibson originated the role. For example, Michael Fassbender recently revealed he had auditioned for the main role and stepped into an acting disaster.

“Oh my God, it was awful. First of all, it was before … You know, I’m always sort of thinking, could I get rid of my phone, my smartphone,” Fassbender told Josh Horowitz on his podcast Happy Sad Confused, noting the audition was over 12 years ago. “And I’m thinking, for the one reason I need Google Maps, its like, my sense of direction is terrible, so bad that like, if my intuition says go right, I go the opposite way. So I was going to Warner Bros. in the valley, not complicated. I had those printouts on the seat next to me in the car, you know, ‘take a left here’ or whatever, and I got lost.

“I ended up getting to the audition almost like an hour late, so I was not in the correct head space … But I arrived and I was like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ And they were like ‘fine,’” Fassbender added. “And then George Miller has this acting coach and it was like so excruciating. It was so excruciating. I have been classically trained, so I have my process of, obviously, there is an objective that the character has and activities that I’m going to play to get it. So I felt like you are teaching your granny how to suck eggs here.”

Fassbender was truly thrown off by the acting coach, even mimicking the movements he demonstrated. This was all in vain, however, and the X-Men: First Class actor was beating feet for the exit.

“I could not wait to get out of there. So, obviously, I did not get the part,” Fassbender adds. “Obviously, Tom Hardy got the part and deservedly so.”

To his credit, George Miller is not slowing down despite a lukewarm reception for Furiosa by Mad Max fans. He revealed he has a new script already and would be pleased to get it off the ground at some point.

“We have got another script,” Miller told Vulture back during the release of Furiosa. “But having been doing this long enough where I’m habituated to storytelling, I find myself with way too many stories — not only in my head, but in the form of screenplays or at least very detailed notes that are within reach of screenplays. I’m a professional daydreamer, really … So, there’s lots of stories. Indeed, one of them is a Mad Max. It is not something I would do next.”