Simon Duggan ASC, ACS on “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is the fifth film in the Mad Max canon and is set two decades before the events depicted in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road.” It is the first of the films not to center on the character of Max Rockatansky, instead telling the origin story of Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in “Fury Road” and now by Anya Taylor-Joy in “Furiosa.” Simon Duggan ASC, ACS is the fourth cinematographer of the franchise and was tasked with continuing the bold, colorful, and kinetic look of director George Miller’s visionary dystopia, where savage, vehicle-based battles are fought in the lawless Australian outback. Duggan speaks here about his work on the movie, which was supplied with ARRI Rental ALEXA 65 cameras and DNA lenses through Panavision Australia.

What were the new elements at play in this fifth Mad Max adventure?

“Furiosa” expands on several elements established in “Fury Road” – the post-apocalyptic barren wasteland; the fortress of The Citadel and its inhabitants, ruled by Immortan Joe; and the War Rig battle truck and other vehicles. It is a more complex story about Furiosa’s journey, starting from the time when she is abducted as a child from the Green Place. We also establish the new character of Dementus and his marauders, and the new satellite towns of Bullet Farm, which supplies ammunition, and Gas Town, which is an oil refinery. The new locations and characters add a further dimension to the story, expressed through the production design, color palette, and lighting style.

What drew you to the ALEXA 65 camera and DNA lenses?

We knew that the landscapes and action sequences were going to really stand out with the 65 mm sensor of the ALEXA 65, especially on an IMAX screen. We also wanted the larger format because it gave us more image to work with for all the visual effects work.

We paired the ALEXA 65 with Prime DNA lenses, which we found had great resolving power for the extreme wide shots in “Furiosa,” while also rendering our actors' close-ups and skin tones beautifully. The DNAs really shone in our low-light interior stage work; when shooting wide open they had a creamier quality with a nice fall-off to the edges. We tested a few detuned DNA lenses but decided with the amount of action involved that we wanted to maintain focus across the screen. When we did want the soft focus fall-off to edges with close-ups of our characters, we would shoot with the DNAs wide open.

Did you have any favorite focal lengths? How did the custom-built lenses come about?

We did have our favorite DNA lenses in the 45 mm to 65 mm range for our characters. These comparatively wide lenses for the 65 mm format added dimension to close-up faces and features. The custom optics came about because we wanted a more extreme wide-angle lens, so ARRI Rental built two special 25 mm lenses for us, one engraved “Mad Max” and the other “Furiosa.” They were great for the wide desert landscapes, giving an exaggerated scale and depth to our exteriors, often with Dementus pacing in the foreground.

What was your general approach to camera movement, and how did this have to coordinate with the SFX and VFX teams?

Director George Miller had been pre-vising the action scenes with Unreal Engine and realized that the sequences were much more exciting and energetic when keeping the camera moving, close to the action and actors throughout. This applied to the remote crane arm tracking vehicle when filming the War Rig fight sequences and also when using the Steadicam around the actors. The camera was always moving and sometimes in 360-degree moves, so there was seldom the opportunity to use key screens. Most of the foreground action was rotoscoped when background extensions were needed. We weren’t able to use much generated atmosphere because the winds were unpredictable and we instead created atmospheric depth cues through the various VFX layers.

Where was the shoot based? How much was location and how much studio?

The entire shoot was based in New South Wales, Australia, with the barren landscapes filmed outside the town of Broken Hill. The town of Hay was chosen for its long stretch of highway, which was used for most of the War Rig attack sequence. The Green Place where Furiosa was abducted, The Citadel, the sand dunes, Bullet Farm, and Gas Town were all filmed in Sydney, with some work at the Disney sound stages.

How demanding were the conditions on location and what challenges did they present in terms of the equipment?

The weather of El Niño brought high winds and a lot of rain. When dry, the red sandy clay of the desert made its way into all of the equipment as dust, and then when it rained, became cemented into all the cavities of the gear. Every department had to be diligent about cleaning cameras, grip equipment, lighting equipment, and everything else when we came to wrap on each day of the shoot.

What work did you do in prep and post to achieve the specific palette seen on screen?

We gave each location its own distinct character and look, mostly through the choice of the individual location itself, but also through production and set design, color palette, and lighting. My DIT Sam Winzar and I set up a specific look for each of the locations, such as the rich color of the red earth landscapes and deep blue skies, the orange sandstorm sequences, and the silver-cyan-blue cast of day-for-night scenes. Our final colorist Eric Whipp stepped in early to lock in close-to-final color looks before scenes were sent to VFX, so the visual effects team had a clear direction to take with the color.

Looking back, what are you most proud of achieving visually in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”?

“Furiosa” is a great story with great characters. Amazing action scenes were designed with a dynamic camera keeping up with the pace of the action, which definitely kept the audience engaged for the whole film. We were also able to expand visually on the established “Fury Road” world to include satellite towns, the Green Place, and the landscapes attached to the marauding Dementus horde, creating more diverse and richer visuals.