George Miller celebrates 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Oscar nods; talks about franchise's future

NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Australian filmmaker George Miller says he already has screenplays for two more Mad Max movies, but isn't sure when the sequels might make it into theaters.

The latest entry in the franchise -- Fury Road -- was nominated for 10 Oscars Thursday. The post-apocalyptic blockbuster is up for Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

"Wowie Zowie! So many talented people labored mightily to bring this movie to the screen. It's lovely that the academy has acknowledged our work in this way," the writer-director-producer said in a statement upon hearing his film had the second most Oscar nominations behind The Revenant, which earned 12.

A week earlier, Miller spoke to UPI by phone about the future of the franchise.

"We have two other stories. I don't know when I'll get time to do them. We're just having the conversation," he explained. "One of the other benefits of the delay [between Fury Road and its predecessor, 1985's Beyond Thunderdome ] is that we dug down deep into the back story, not only of the characters, but even, for instance, the guy with the guitar. How that guitar came about, how each of the vehicles came about. How their gestures and behaviors came about, so it is a very, very examined world in terms of what we were able to achieve and I think that kind of gets onto the screen by some sort of osmosis. So, the short answer is, yes, we have two other stories and we are certainly having conversations about them, but I'm not sure when we will go back into the wasteland."

Asked if he would like to take a break from the world and turn his attention to something lighter before tackling another Mad Max, the Happy Feet and Babe filmmaker laughed and replied: "Yes, something relatively quick and not as complex. These are technically complex movies. In order to pull them off, they have to be very highly prepared and so on. That applies to every movie, but something... whether it is sweet and light... but just something smaller in scale and something that wouldn't take as long to do."