Director George Miller Is Way Too Sane to Be a Mad Genius

A surprise pick to lead the Cannes jury, the guru of chaotic action movies shows a deeply thoughtful side, opening up about childhood trauma, Fury Road’s Oscar haul and his shock at Mel Gibson’s meltdown.

- Stephen Galloway

DEAR GEORGE,” the text began. “Is this cell number still yours? And is this the best way to reach you? There is something I would like to discuss with you … All my best and happy new year. A bientot, Thierry.”

“Thierry” was Thierry Fremaux, the head of the Cannes Film Festival, and on this Jan. 7, at the height of awards season frenzy — a week before Mad Max: Fury Road would be showered with 10 Oscar nominations and four months before the Riviera event itself would get underway — he was reaching out to George Miller to ask whether the Australian director would be president of this year’s jury.

“I said, ‘Oh, I’d love to!’ ” recalls Miller, 71. “I asked Margaret [Sixel, his commonlaw wife and editor], ‘What do you think?’ She said: ‘Do it, do it, do it!’ ”

It's hard to imagine a filmmaker who, on the surface, less embodies Cannes' art house ethos. This is a man who reimagined the action genre, whose propulsive vision liftedFury Road to blockbuster status, earning $378 million globally — more than most Cannes contenders put together.

But sitting with him in a Sydney restaurant one mid-April afternoon, it’s difficult to reconcile this benevolent figure with Mad Max’s maestro of controlled chaos, a helmer who defines the word “dynamic.” With his owlish round spectacles and flying gray hair, he looks more like an academic, or perhaps the doctor he almost became, than the dark master of rapid-fire edits.