Unseen ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Storyboards Were More Extreme

You may have seen Peter Pound’s wicked concept art for Mad Max: Fury Road floating around the web before. But recently, artist Brendan McCarthy (2000 AD, ReBoot) began tweeting previously unseen storyboards and unused concepts for the film. And, wouldn’t you know it — some of the concepts are even stranger than the film itself! Check them out below.

Original Storyboards

There’s a misconception that Mad Max: Fury Road never had a proper screenplay. It eventually did, but the original document that director George Miller used to pitch the film in 1997 was much more visual.

Original storyboards for the drumming sequence. Nux had a very different look back then!

Storyboards for the vehicle-lowering scene. — Storyboards for the vehicle lowering scene.

Vehicular Mayhem

The film’s cars are works of spiky, high-octane art. Here are some designs you’ll recognize, and some you won’t.

The concept art of the buzzard attack war rig scene translated perfectly into the film — This Buzzard attack scene translated perfectly into the film.

Another previously unseen vehicle design.

Something completely new: a solar-powered diesel train with truck wheels with a jet tail fin! — Something completely new: a solar-powered diesel locomotive with truck wheels and jet tail fin!

Character Designs

Here is where Fury Road diverged the most from its original concept — these designs are quite different from anything we’ve ever seen in a Mad Max film.

mad-max-fury-road-mccarthy-art8 — More extreme designs for Neckro Boyz.

These characters, the Munkeez, were discarded sometime before production.

Covered in mirrors and scrap metal, Jackhammer is another great concept that never made it into the movie.

As beautiful and mind-blowing as these concepts are, I think they would’ve been a bit too extreme for Fury Road. As it is, the film teeters excitingly on the edge of complete visual overload. The relative simplicity of Immortan Joe’s powder-skinned War Boys is easier to look at and understand, especially when they’re jumping off racing vehicles. Even so, the Neckro Boy designs are so amazing that it’d be a shame to never see them on screen. But that’s what another Mad Max movie is for.

Check out the trailer for the ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ home video release in gritty black-and-white.