Justin Kurzel wants to make a 'Mad Max' prequel.
The 'Assassin's Creed' director, 50, has always been "curious" as to what happened before the events of the original post-apocalyptic action film, and has now revealed he has considered approaching franchise creator George Miller, 79, about the possibility of him helming a prequel to the 1979 cult classic, which starred Mel Gibson as the titular character.
Kurzel told Collider: "I’ll tell you what, maybe because it was such a big influence, but I’ve always been curious about what happened before the first 'Mad Max' - what was that world with the Nightrider, pre-'Mad Max'.
"I’ve always been very curious about that and very tempted to talk to George about the possibility of a world that is pre-'Mad Max' one and what that is. That’s been one that I’ve always been really curious about because it was such an influential film in my time.
"It’s an amazing franchise, but I’ve always been curious about those moments before that first one because it’s set up so richly. And it’s such a great time in Australia, too, that period."
'Mad Max' spawned two sequels, 'Mad Max 2' and 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' in 1981 and 1985 respectively, though the series was then rested for 30 years until it was rebooted with 2015's 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.
The 2015 flick – which saw Tom Hardy replace Gibson as the anti-hero - recently received the spin-off 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga', which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth and takes place before the events of 'Fury Road'.
Reflecting on the franchise at the time of 'Furiosa's release, Miller said he never thought'Mad Max' to have stayed as popular as it is for over four decades.
Asked if he expected the appeal of 'Mad Max' to span generations, the director told IndieWire's 'Filmmaker Toolkit' podcast: "Never!
"It's best expressed in John Lennon's notion that life is what happens when you're making other plans."
The filmmaker explained that the demands of the first 'Mad Max' had nearly put him off from directing altogether, and it was only when he began to see how well-received the movie was that he decided to get back behind the camera and continue the franchise.
He said: "I began to realise that inadvertently, we had hit on something archetypal.
"In Japan, he was a samurai. In Scandinavia, he was a lone Viking. In France, they saw 'Mad Max' as a Western on wheels."
Looking to the future, Miller revealed he was planning more 'Mad Max' instalments, and was teased he was looking to bring back characters from 'Furiosa' in other projects set in the action franchise.
He told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival: "There are certainly other stories there. Mainly because in order to tell the story of Fury Road, we had to know the backstory of Furiosa and Max in the year before.
"That was a tool for the cast and crew. We know the Max story from the year before. I’ll definitely wait to see how this ['Furiosa'] goes, before we even think about it."
