Kyle Buchanan takes readers through every step of the Mad Max experience in vivid detail. He begins with the first Mad Max film—a film that made history as the most profitable film of all time. He covers the later decision to move ahead without the problematic Mel Gibson, and the casting of Heath Ledger (whose untimely death further put the film’s production in question). But he takes the deepest dive in reporting the astonishing facts behind the making of Fury Road where the eccentricity of the film’s director, George Miller, found its way into almost every aspect of the film. Buchanan details the wild auditioning process for the movie where actors were required to repeat the same line for four hours (not even knowing what film they were auditioning for). He discusses the coaching of the “sex slaves” by Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler. With hundreds of new details, readers will be left with one undeniable conclusion: there has never been a film so drenched in sweat, so forged by fire, and so fascinating in scope.