Mad Max: Fury Road, without a doubt one of the biggest and most outrageous movies of the year, is a return of the adventure franchise that began with Mad Max in 1979 with Mel Gibson as the leading man. George Miller, the director of the original film and the sequels, still knows exactly what fans want from an apocalyptic world.

At a recent press conference he was asked how he was able to make a  movie that is a good continuation to the first three Mad Max films, but yet keeping it contemporary. He said, "Thank you for acknowledging that because it's so hard to do that. If we're going to go back to this world, you surely can't do what you did 30 years ago, but it had to be uniquely familiar. It's like going back to your home town but seeing it through new eyes. Everything had changed in 30 years. The world had changed. Cinema had changed. Technology changed and this was an opportunity to blend all of that together. Mad Max 2 had 1,200 cuts. This has 2,700 cuts and it's not much longer than the other film.... Although we had to shoot much of it old school, with the digital advancements, we were able to do so much. One of the most common uses of CGI in the movie was to change the color of the sky." To which he jokingly added, "I hope I was able to improve on the last movies after 30 years or else I haven't learned anything."

Within this world of fire and blood and everything that explodes and intensifies by the second exist two rebels, there's Max (Tom Hardy) a disengaged warrior of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos and then there's Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman of action who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland but through the journey a heroine is born.

We asked Theron if she agrees that this should be called Mad Maxine because Furiosa is the baddest person on-screen? She said, "I find myself in the last couple of days talking about this movie and realizing more than ever about how fortunate I was to have George trust me in this role. You're only as good as the opportunities handed your way and Mad Maxine? Tom, what do you think of that?"

The movie, which the director calls "almost a continuous chase," extends the story of the first Mad Max film. "Of course it's based on the same character that they'll play, the lone warrior in the wasteland disengaged from the rest of the world," Miller shared. "But naturally Tom brings his Tom Hardy-ness to it, and the story is different to some degree. "

Miller said that his post-apocalyptic film will deal with some of the same issues as its older counterparts. "In many ways we're sort of doomed to repeat the whole history," he said. "People effectively went to war for oil," he added. "We arguably have been fighting oil wars ever since. Now, in some places in the world, there are water wars."

The film, in development for over a decade, was originally intended to star Mel Gibson, but after long delays, a younger Hardy was cast in the role of Max. The Australian actor shared with us that, "Initially, I was daunted because Mad Max is synonymous with Mel Gibson, who is a much-loved character by many people. At the same time, I was really excited to get the job because it was a big fish to land. The other side of that is everybody loves Mel as Max and nobody is going to want me. It was like being the new boy at school, and set up in some way for failure immediately. But having said that, George has created the post-apocalyptic movie 40 years ago, so there wasn't any real pressure to be a new Max, so to speak. I was inheriting a legacy to transcend the character in my own way. George asked me to come along and portray his Max. So I just did what was asked for me. Behind Fury Road, there is an abundance of material that has yet to reveal itself. I don't know that I brought anything new, other than I'm just a new actor. I'm just a new boy, and hopefully accepted."

We also wanted to talk to the cast about the different portrayals of women, so we asked. This film has a bunch of cool women in it and most action movies don't. Can you talk about that? Theron described, "I don't get to make a lot of movies with this many women. I was surrounded by women, so that was a breath of fresh air for me. I knew George has an innate understanding of what women represent in society, and he wanted that to be reflected in a post-apocalyptic world in the most truthful way possible. It's interesting having people tell us we're strong women, and we're just women. The truth is that women are powerful enough, and we don't need to be put on pedestals. What we're capable of doing is amazing, and is special for a story like this, especially."

And for this and every second of badassness in the film is enough of a reason to go and see it as soon as it comes out.

Mad Max: Fury Road hits theaters May 15.