Eminem was set to star in 'Mad Max: Fury Road'

George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is considered by many to be one of the greatest action films of the last decade. Since the 1979 original, the legacy of Mad Max has continued to grow via sequels as well as other projects such as video games but it was this 2015 modern masterpiece that actually revitalised the franchise in the 21st century.

Set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as Max who teams up with a rebelling war captain (Charlize Theron) in order to escape the clutches of a frenzied cult leader. The meticulous production design and the riveting visual narrative proved beyond a doubt that Miller still possessed supreme filmmaking abilities.

A new book titled Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘ has uncovered some interesting details about the production process. According to the excerpts that have been published, Miller actually wanted to cast Rihanna in the film and had even considered Eminem for the lead role.

The director said: “[Eminem had] done 8 Mile, and I found that really interesting — I thought, He’s got that quality. We’d done the first Happy Feet with the late Brittany Murphy, and she had done 8 Mile, so I asked her what he was like and would this be something really interesting for him? She had no reservations about saying what a wonderful talent he is.”

“We did get in touch with him, though that’s as far as it went because we were going to shoot it in Australia at that point, and he simply didn’t want to leave home,” Miller recalled while talking about casting Eminem as Mad Max. “I think he had the impression that if he could do it out of his home state, then he’d be up for it.”

Watch the trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road below.