The real return of Mad Max

Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth movie in the legendary post-apocalyptic action franchise, has long been on the production back burner. Mel Gibson, who originated the role that made him an international superstar with Mad Max and its sequel The Road Warrior, had been attached to the project early on. But as the film got tangled up with various pre-production difficulties over the years, Gibson was eventually replaced in 2009 with rising star Tom Hardy. The ever-busy Charlize Theron was also cast.

Filming was supposed to begin in 2010. It didn't happen due to huge storms flooding much of the desert areas in Australia where production had been set up. Last year, Tom Hardy stated in an interview while promoting Warrior that filming was to begin April 2012. That didn't happen either.

In a new interview with MTV News, however, Charlize Theron let it out that shooting was starting on the troubled production June 2. That's little over a week away and a lot could happen in that time, but fans should feel encouraged that it's a real date for a change. Hopefully an official announcement will be coming our way before then.