Blood, Sweat and Chrome

The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road

by Kyle Buchanan

English language

Published March 21, 2022 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-308434-6

(10 reviews)

A full-speed-ahead oral history of the nearly two-decade making of the cultural phenomenon Mad Max: Fury Road—with more than 130 new interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and director George Miller, from the pop culture reporter for The New York Times, Kyle Buchanan.

It won six Oscars and has been hailed as the greatest action film ever, but it is a miracle Mad Max: Fury Road ever made it to the screen… or that anybody survived the production. The story of this modern classic spanned nearly two decades of wild obstacles as visionary director George Miller tried to mount one of the most difficult shoots in Hollywood history.

Production stalled several times, stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron clashed repeatedly in the brutal Namib Desert, and Miller’s crew engineered death-defying action scenes that were among the most dangerous ever committed to film. Even accomplished Hollywood figures are flummoxed by the accomplishment: As the director Steven Soderbergh has said, “I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film, and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.”

Kyle Buchanan takes readers through every step of that moviemaking experience in vivid detail, from Fury Road’s unexpected origins through its outlandish casting process to the big-studio battles that nearly mutilated a masterpiece. But he takes the deepest dive in reporting the astonishing facts behind a shoot so unconventional that the film’s fantasy world began to bleed into the real lives of its cast and crew. As they fought and endured in a wasteland of their own, the only way forward was to have faith in their director’s mad vision. But how could Miller persevere when almost everything seemed to be stacked against him?

With hundreds of exclusive interviews and details about the making of Fury Road, readers will be left with one undeniable conclusion: There has never been a movie so drenched in sweat, so forged by fire, and so epic in scope.

3 editions

Sean Gursky reviewed Blood, Sweat and Chrome by Kyle Buchanan

Review of 'Blood, Sweat and Chrome : The Wild and True Story of Mad Max' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The Greek version of a hero is somebody who sows the seeds of his own destruction, which ultimately means he has to die in order for wise men to tell his tale, and somebody who keeps surviving at the end of a movie is not really a hero.

Blood, Sweat & Chrome was an unexpected read for me but I loved it. I knew of some challenges for filming Fury Road but I had no idea it covered decades with multiple starts and stops with every imaginable hurdle put in its way.

This book reads like a documentary with many interviews from cast and crew to carefully tell the narrative. All facets of the movie development are covered and it was an incredible look behind the scenes to make this film. It would help to be familiar with Fury Road but you don't need to be a diehard fan to appreciate the challenges that faced everyone involved.

I enjoyed Fury Road but now I adore it and I am going to do a re-watch to appreciate everything. From the realization that the Pole cats were practical effects and that every vehicle shown has a history and any prop visible has a purpose.

I wanted to casually read this book with a chapter here and there but the story was incredibly engaging and I had to know more. Buchanan has done a masterful job tracing the history of the Mad Max series and articulating why this movie is a masterpiece and how it will continue to resonate years from now.