In what will no doubt be a major boost to the local ecomony, Greystones’ highly controversial new marina has been chosen by a major Hollywood studio for the latest in the Mad Max blockbuster series.
With the fourth installment of the franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, having taken in a staggering $374,238,717 at the world’s box-office, the hope is the arrival of this much-loved action series to Greystones will finally see the new marina give something back to the community. Namely, fame, money and a chance to sleep with leading man Tom Hardy.
It was Mad Max creator George Miller who fell in love with our once picturesque harbour as he scouted the world’s seaside locations for the next installment of his Dystopian thrill-ride.
“With the Mad Max series, it’s always been my intention to reveal to the world what happens when you let money and greed win,” said the 70-year-old, Queensland-born filmmaker. “What if we let big business crush the very people it was making all its money from? What if we just kept on taking Mother Nature roughly from behind, all in the name of making another million? Well, what you end up with is total anarchy, and death, and destruction, and despair. And a dirty, dour and damp smalltown harbour.
“It’s a theme we explored in the first four films, and the stories themselves just kept getting bigger and darker with each outing. So, for the fith film, I wanted to go back to basics, to make it a local story rather than a global one. And what better than a sleepy Irish fishing town that has had its very face ripped off and thrown in the sea by big business?
“We were going to build this great big set out in the wilds of Australia again, but when someone played me footage of how Greystones harbour looks today, well, I couldn’t believe it – the devastated little coastal town of my nightmares was right before my eyes. Not only are we going to save millions and millions on set design, but for this Mad Max outing, the post-apocalyptic hell-hole that we’ve always aimed to create through smoke and mirrors, and CGI, will actually be standing all around us. In glorious 3D.
“It’s magnificent. Like Costner’s diabolical Waterworld come to life. And the design itself is positively evil – do you know that you can’t actually see the water when you stand at the mouth of the new Greystones harbour, just out on the footpath? And the four-storey apartment block that’s about to be built there is going to be called Seaview Apartments, apparently – even though this apartment block is going to actually block the sea view?
“I would never have thought of those crazy little twists in a million years!”
With only the paperwork left to finalise, and the brown envelopes to be passed, Mad Max 5: Sisky Business will begin shooting in Greystones in early December.
Below is the actual footage of the Greystones harbour that convinced Hollywood that they’d found the perfect hell-hole. Oh, and good to see Mad Mel scouting for locations around the town too.