George Miller Considered Casting Eminem as Max Rockatansky in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

There was actually a point in the development process of Mad Max: Fury Road where director George Miller actually considered casting Eminem in the lead role Max Rockatansky. In fact, they actually approached the actor about taking on the role!

Miller recently talked with Vulture alongside Mad Max lead storyboard artist Mark Sexton, who revealed: "This is something I don't hear about very much and that George never admits, but I have a very, very, very strong memory of George talking about Eminem for Max.”

Production and development executive, Petrina Hull, replied, “That is true. See, that's one of those wild-card things: There were always these people that George would see in popular culture, and he'd want to know more about this person."

Miller then explained, "He'd done 8 Mile, and I found that really interesting – I thought, He's got that quality. We'd done the first Happy Feet with the late Brittany Murphy, and she had done 8 Mile, so I asked her what he was like and would this be something really interesting for him? She had no reservations about saying what a wonderful talent he is." 

Sexton added, "I'm kind of glad it didn't happen. Eminem, really? Whole different bent there. And the feminist story behind Mad Max: Fury Road might have taken a bit of a hammering if he'd played the role." 

It would have been pretty weird if Eminem was cast as Max! Tom Hardy was great in the role, and Mel Gibson was awesome when he played the character! I just can’t imagine Eminem taking it on, though! It’s crazy that Miller actually considered him, but everything worked out in the end.