25 things you didn’t know about your favorite action movies

Mad Max: Fury Road – Over 470 hours of footage to edit down

See! We told you we would have to talk about the Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road at some point.

In Fury Road, the story focuses on Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a rebel who is fighting against the tyrannical ruler in post-apocalyptic Australia. She sets out to find her homeland with the help of a certain someone named Max (Tom Hardy) in hopes of restoring order in this chaotic society.

Fury Road was a huge hit and Oscar favorite following its release. It was loved by critics and audiences, and it won all those awards for a reason. The cinematography, including the special effects and editing, were spectacular, and much of the fun facts about the film revolve around those elements.

In the film, over 80 percent of the effects were practical effects, camera tricks, stunts, and makeup. They used CGI sparingly, and when it was used, it was mostly for practical purposes, such as creating Furiosa’s prosthetic arm, removing wires from stunts, and enhancing the beautiful Namibian landscape.

A movie doesn’t just become a beautifully crafted, Oscar-winning masterpiece by accident. Editor Margaret Sixel had to go through roughly 470 hours of footage. You didn’t read that wrong: she literally edited down 470 hours’ worth of footage and watching it all took three months. This was Sixel’s first action movie, but she was chosen for a good reason.

Sixel is the wife of the film’s director George Miller. He asked her to work on the project, even though she didn’t have experience in the action genre, because he wanted her unique vision: “Because if a guy did it, it would look like every other action movie.” Looks like that strategy paid off for everyone in the end since Sixel won the Academy Award for Best Editing.