Mad Max: Fury Roadis enjoying its second weekend of release right now, and if you’ve already seen the movie, you’ll know that one of the most striking things about it is the film’s color palate. Set against an orange desert with a luscious blue skyline, the cinematography is as gorgeous as the stunts are incredible. But according to directorGeorge Miller, we haven’t seen the best version of the movie yet. And that’s a print that is completely devoid of any color. He promises, though, that this Black & White version will be included with the Blu-ray. He explains:
“We spent a lot of time in DI (digital intermediate), and we had a very fine colorist, Eric Whipp. One thing I’ve noticed is that the default position for everyone is to de-saturate post-apocalyptic movies. There’s only two ways to go, make them black and white - the best version of this movie is black and white, but people reserve that for art movies now. The other version is to really go all-out on the color. The usual teal and orange thing? That’s all the colors we had to work with. The desert’s orange and the sky is teal, and we either could de-saturate it, or crank it up, to differentiate the movie. Plus, it can get really tiring watching this dull, de-saturated color, unless you go all the way out and make it black and white.”
While Black & White movies are certainly a thing of the past, directorFrank Darabontdid release a version of his thrillerStephen King’s The Miston Blu-ray that was colorless, a version he also calls ‘the best’. AndQuentin Tarantinoshot a portion of hisKill Bill Vol. 1in Black & White to avoid an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. The Black & White version ofMad Max: Fury Roadwon’t be the only alternative cut arriving on Blu-ray. The director is also releasing a silent version that is only accompanied by the film’s music. No release date is set yet, but it will likely be available towards the end of August or in early September.
