Where was Mad Max Fury Road filmed?

Mad Max: Fury Road was filmed in the Namib Desert, Namibia. But the stunning African landscape was not in the original filming location plan. The movie was expected to be shoot in Australia, like the original cult trilogy that was so popular in the eighties.

The outdoors had to be filmed near the small city of Broken Hill, an isolated oasis surrounded by semi-desertic lands in the Australian Outback. This was back in 2010. However, a stroke of bad luck forced to relocate the whole production almost to the other side of the world. Unexpected heavy rains turned the arid desert there into a lush landscape of wildflowers. The punky post-apocalyptic barren land setting of the Mad Max films, had become a hippie carpet of blossoms.

The filming of Mad Max Fury Road finally started in 2012. All the equipment, like the spectacular vehicles, were sent by boat to a port in South Africa. Image by Mariusz kluzniak

The scale of the production was quite amazing too. It seems that more than 800 people were involved, 140 just to drive the vehicles. Also according to the information in this web, they had three replicas of each vehicle available. Image by courtesy of Warner Bros

The movie was directed by the Australian George Miller, the same of the previous 3 movies of the franchise. He wanted the film to be a continuous road chase, were the action and the visuals have to speak for themselves. Miller said that he wanted the film to be understood almost without using dialogue. Image by Werner Bayer

This new Mad Max was filmed around the sand dunes between Swakopmund (the capital of the country) and Walvis Bay, near the coast in Namibia.
Image by Dietmar Temps

Also some areas of the Dorob National Park were used as shooting locations. Image by courtesy of Warner Bros

It was a small controversy, as some conservationist groups said that filming in Dorob National Park caused significant damage to the park's habitat... even if in some parts it looks as death as you can check in this picture. Image by Jbdodane

At the end the Namibia Film Commission said that they had "no reservations" after visiting the set, and that the accusations were "unjust rhetoric".
Image by courtesy of Warner Bros

Most of the effects for the film were done in situ, with real explosions and stuff, old school style. In this sense, it was quite incredible the fact that no one got hurt.
Image by Pius Mahimbi

After 30 years, the crazy dystopian future of the loner hero Mad Max is back. This time it seems that Mel Gibson is not going to be there, even for a small cameo...
Or maybe he will? Image by courtesy of Warner Bros

As homage to the origins of Mad Max, the opening and final sequences were set in Australia. The production filmed in Penrith, Sydney, Fox Studios in Moore Park, and Potts Hill. The team also was in Cape Town Film Studios in South Africa. Image by Monica Guy

After years in pre-production and multiple delays, the final release date of Mad Max Fury Road will be on 15 May 2015. One day before will be the world premiere, at the prestigious 68th Cannes Film Festival, out of competition. Image by courtesy of Warner Bros