Mad Max: Fury Road was a pain in the ass.
Literally.
Director George Miller says keeping the cast safe was his biggest worry.
"It was the worst part of making this movie," Miller tells me. "We were doing it old school—real cars, real people, real desert and 130 days and it was big stunt day every day. It was a military exercise.
"It was tough," he continued. "I used to be a doctor and the idea of harming somebody making a movie? We were just determined to be safe."
Charlize Theron had to be extra careful because she was still suffering a neck injury from Aeon Flux when she filmed Mad Max. "We didn't help the neck in one shot that went slightly awry," Miller said. "It was a cable slip when she's holding onto to Tom Hardy upside down. But she was back the next day. She's tough."
Hardy admitted he go injured, but said, "it's just some knocks and bumps and broken bits and bobs, nothing exciting."
Nicholas Hoult went home one night with whiplash. "A truck crashed into my truck on purpose but it was going quite fast," he said. "I never wanted to look like a pansy in front of the stunt guys so I was like, 'I'm fine. I'm fine.'"
Rosie Huntington-Whitely did some of her own stunts. "I got a bruise here and there and a scrap but it was more physically draining and exhausting than anything else," she said. "You're out in the desert 14 hours a day and at 4:30 in the morning you're in makeup to put on prosthetics [he character is pregnant in the movie], so it was physically draining."
Mad Max: Fury Road is in theaters now.