#Fury Road Would’ve Starred Eminem In A Weird Alternate Universe

Miller was apparently fascinated by Marshall Mathers after seeing him in Curtis Hanson’s “8 Mile,” the semi-autobiographical film about Eminem’s roots. Curious, the director reached out and discussed this with Eminem and the talks went well enough that Miller had the lead storyboard artist on “Fury Road,” Mark Sexton, draw up some storyboards that gave Max blond hair. 

However, it wasn’t meant to be for a reason that might surprise you:

“We did get in touch with him, though that’s as far as it went because we were going to shoot it in Australia at that point, and he simply didn’t want to leave home. I think he had the impression that if he could do it out of his home state, then he’d be up for it.”

Gotta love George Miller for thinking outside the box, though. I think he landed on the right Max, but if want some fun stuff to chew on, here are the other actors who he either considered or actually workshopped with for the part: Michael Fassbender, Jeremy Renner, Armie Hammer, Joel Kinnaman, Eric Bana, Sam Worthington, and Heath Ledger.

Based on the quotes in Buchanan’s book, it sounds like the part was going to Heath Ledger before he tragically passed away. Try to picture that in your mind’s eye and see if you don’t get a bit teary-eyed over what could have been.

But, we ended up with a great Max, even if he was (apparently) a nightmare for the cast and crew to work with. I don’t know about that (I wasn’t there personally!), but I can say as someone who has watched this movie a dozen times since release that what’s onscreen is brilliant.