10 Films That Saved Directors From 'Movie Jail'

In a world where every director is seemingly branded a 'visionary director', George Miller truly deserves this label for Mad Max: Fury Road alone, which rejuvenated the modern action film. While many may only know the Australian director for his Mad Max series, his career outside of this is as fascinating as it is bizarre.

After Miller launched the career of Mel Gibson with the aforementioned film series, he moved to family-friendly adventure films with talking pig movie Babe and its sequel Babe: Pig in the City, which sadly did not enjoy the success of its predecessor. While attempting to come back from this in the mid '00s, Miller attempted to start another franchise with Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two which eventually led to the bankruptcy of Miller's studio. Around the same time, Miller was attempting to direct two films which were going through development hell: DC's Justice League Mortal - which was eventually shelved for a decade in part due to the writer's strike - and a long belated sequel to his cult dystopian franchise.

This fourth entry to the series, titled Mad Max: Fury Road, seemed destined to be a failure from the start with constant reshoots, clashing co-stars and the stressful experience filming in the Namibian desert. However, the film received critical acclaim for its action scenes and thought-provoking themes, was nominated for an incredible ten Oscar nominations and firmly revitalising Miller's status as a great action director.