It's been a long, long time coming, but at last cameras are about to roll on 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' the much-delayed fourth film in writer/director George Miller's classic post-apocalyptic series.

The original 'Mad Max' films put star Mel Gibson on the map, but his days as the terse road warrior are well behind him: 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' came out way back in 1985. Miller, however, found possibly the next best candidate to play the role -- Tom Hardy of 'Bronson,' 'Warrior' and soon 'The Dark Knight Rises' fame -- and positioned 'Fury Road' as a relaunch of the character and franchise.

That was in 2009. Filming was originally supposed to start in late 2010, with Charlize Theron slated to star alongside Hardy, but massive rainstorms in the region of Australia where Miller planned to shoot turned his desert location into mud.

Eventually the area dried up and Hardy hinted a while back that filming would begin in April 2012. Well, he was off by just a few more months; Theron has told MTV News (see video below) that 'Mad Max: Fury Road' begins shooting on June 2nd -- a mere 10 days from now.

Let's hope there are no further delays, because we can't wait to see the return of Max Rockatansky and we can't think of anyone better than Tom Hardy to play him.

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