MAD FACTS!
ROCK-ATANSKY & ROLL
THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE MAD MAX MOVIES
Mad Max and the music industry have gone hand in glove for years, especially with the former influencing musicians the world over...
• Mel Gibson’s first screen kiss was with eventual Max costar Steve Bisley in the 1977 movie Summer City.
Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky with his faithful dog. It was actually a two-year-old Australian Cattle Dog (according to George Miller, a half-breed of wild dingo and sheep collie). The dog was very fond of actor Bruce Spence who played the Gyro Captain. It caused minor issues with the dog being virtually unable to bark at and be aggressive towards the actor. Miller solved this problem by clever editing techniques that give the appearance of hostility between the two
• The first day of filming on Mad Max was Monday, 24th October 1977. It was a scene on a motorway over pass – and it caused more than a few headaches as there was nowhere for the crew to park.
• Gary Numan had long been on the cutting edge of outlandish sounds, but there’s no denying Max Rockatansky’s influence on the cover for his 1983 LP cover, Warriors. So, let’s just run through the Mad Max aesthetic list: Wasteland? Check. Leather jacket with obligatory sleeve missing? Check. Badass attitude? Check.
• The caravan smashed up in one memorable stunt scene was also a make-up area, and allegedly provided a space for herbal-based recreation in film one.
• Hugh Keays-Byrne (Toecutter in Mad Max/Immortan Joe in Fury Road) honed his craft as a stage actor in assorted Shakespeare productions. Before the first Mad Max, he’d starred in cult 1974 biker movie Stone.
• Highlander director Russell Mulcahy pulled off one of the greatest pop promos of all time. His collaboration with Duran Duran on epic musical Arena owed more than a debt to Mad Max 2. Leather-clad Simon Le Bon strapped to a windmill dressed in clothes not dissimilar to Max helped sell Wild Boys, one of the band’s greatest tracks, in 1984.
• Mad Max cost around (Australian) $400,000. It went on to gross more than (US) $100million.