50 Fun Facts About Mad Max

Who created the Mad Max franchise, directing or co-directing every film in it?

George Miller created Mad Max and has directed every entry through Furiosa (2024), sharing the Beyond Thunderdome credit with George Ogilvie; he practised as a hospital doctor before the 1979 original.

What is Max's surname?

He starts the series as the top pursuit man of the Main Force Patrol before the biker gang murders his wife and infant son.

Which actor played Max in the first three films?

Mel Gibson played Max in Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2 (1981) and Beyond Thunderdome (1985); the American-born NIDA graduate was cast at 21 after the surf film Summer City.

Under what title was Mad Max 2 released in the United States?

Warner Bros. released Mad Max 2 in the United States in 1982 as The Road Warrior, dropping the sequel number because the 1979 original had barely been seen there.

Which pop star plays Aunty Entity, ruler of Bartertown, in Beyond Thunderdome?

Tina Turner plays Aunty Entity, the ruler of Bartertown, in Beyond Thunderdome (1985); she also recorded two songs for the soundtrack, including 'One of the Living', which won her a Grammy.

Who plays Max in Mad Max: Fury Road?

Tom Hardy took over as Max in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), beating finalists Armie Hammer and Jeremy Renner for the role first played on screen in 1979.

Who plays Imperator Furiosa in Fury Road?

Charlize Theron plays Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); she shaved her head for the part, and her character's missing left forearm was removed digitally in post-production.

Who plays the young adult Furiosa in the 2024 prequel?

Anya Taylor-Joy plays the young adult Furiosa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024), with Alyla Browne as the child; the director rejected digitally de-ageing the Fury Road actress as unconvincing.

Which Thor actor plays the warlord Dementus in Furiosa?

Chris Hemsworth plays Dementus, the warlord who leads the Biker Horde in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024); he wore a prosthetic nose and rode a chariot pulled by three motorcycles.

In the 1979 film, what is the name of the law-enforcement agency Max works for?

The Main Force Patrol, or MFP, is the highway police force Max serves in the 1979 film; its base is the Halls of Justice and the gangs call its officers 'the Bronze'.

What is the name of the biker-gang leader who terrorises Max's family in the first film?

Toecutter leads the biker gang that murders Max's wife and child in Mad Max (1979); chased down by Max at the end, he rides head-on into a semi-trailer and is killed.

What is the nickname of Max's partner Jim Rains, who is burned alive in his ute in the first film?

Jim 'Goose' Rains is Max's motorcycle-cop partner, played by NIDA classmate Steve Bisley; his burning scene led New Zealand to ban the film because it resembled a real gang killing.

Max's black supercharged Pursuit Special was built from which Australian car?

The Pursuit Special is a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT hardtop; its bonnet-mounted Weiand supercharger was a non-functioning prop, spun by an electric motor for the camera.

Roughly what was the production budget of the original Mad Max?

Mad Max was made for roughly A$400,000, partly raised by the director working months of emergency house calls as a doctor; it went on to gross about US$100 million worldwide.

Which 1999 release took Mad Max's twenty-year Guinness record for most profitable film?

The Blair Witch Project (1999), shot for about US$60,000, took the Guinness record for highest cost-to-profit ratio that Mad Max had held since 1979.

What did the US distributor do to the first film's dialogue for its 1980 release there?

'Oi!' became 'Hey!', 'windscreen' became 'windshield' and 'proby' became 'rookie'.

Who composed the scores for the first two Mad Max films?

Australian composer Brian May (no relation to the Queen guitarist) scored Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981), hired after his music for the 1978 thriller Patrick.

In and around which Australian city was the original Mad Max filmed?

The original Mad Max was shot in and around Melbourne in 1977–78, on roads near Little River and in the town of Clunes; the crew often closed roads without permits.

Mad Max 2 was shot in the outback around which Australian mining town?

Mad Max 2 (1981) was filmed in the desert around Broken Hill, New South Wales; Fury Road planned to return there in 2010 until heavy rain turned the area green with wildflowers.

What is the name of the masked leader of the marauders besieging the refinery in Mad Max 2?

Lord Humungus, the self-styled 'Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla', leads the marauders besieging the refinery in Mad Max 2 (1981); he wears a hockey mask and was played by Kjell Nilsson.

In Mad Max 2, what weapon does the Feral Kid throw to kill a marauder?

The Feral Kid, played by Emil Minty, kills a marauder with his razor-edged metal boomerang; when the Toadie tries to catch it on the return, it takes off his fingers.

What is the twist at the end of Mad Max 2 when the tanker finally crashes?

The settlers had smuggled the real fuel out in oil drums inside their smaller vehicles while everyone chased the decoy.

Which actor plays the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2 and pilot Jedediah in Beyond Thunderdome?

Bruce Spence, the lanky New Zealand-born actor, played the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2 (1981) and the pilot Jedediah in Beyond Thunderdome (1985), officially two different characters.

Which mohawked marauder, armed with a wrist-mounted crossbow, hunts Max in Mad Max 2?

Wez, played by Vernon Wells, is the mohawked marauder with a wrist-mounted crossbow in Mad Max 2 (1981); Wells went on to play the villain Bennett in Commando (1985).

In Beyond Thunderdome, Bartertown's electricity comes from a refinery in 'Underworld' that runs on what?

Pig Killer is serving a sentence shovelling it there for the crime of slaughtering a pig to feed his children.

Who runs Underworld in Beyond Thunderdome, a dwarf engineer who rides on his giant bodyguard's shoulders?

Master, the dwarf engineer played by Angelo Rossitto, runs Underworld and rides on the shoulders of his giant bodyguard Blaster; together the pair are known as Master Blaster.

The tribe of children Max meets in Beyond Thunderdome are descended from survivors of what crash?

The children's tribe descends from passengers of a Qantas Boeing 747 that crashed in the desert; they await its pilot, Captain Walker, to fly them to 'Tomorrow-morrow Land'.

Which Beyond Thunderdome song, sung by the actress playing Aunty Entity, hit No. 2 in the US?

'We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)' reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985; the film's other song, 'One of the Living', won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal.

Beyond Thunderdome is dedicated to which co-creator of the series, killed in a helicopter crash in 1983?

Byron Kennedy, producer of the first two films, died in a helicopter crash in New South Wales in July 1983; Beyond Thunderdome carries a dedication to him.

What MPAA rating did Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome receive in the United States?

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) was rated PG-13 in the United States after its violence was toned down; the first two films and Fury Road all carried R ratings.

Which composer scored Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome?

Maurice Jarre, the French composer behind Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, scored Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), replacing the composer of the first two films.

In which country was most of Mad Max: Fury Road shot?

Most of Mad Max: Fury Road was shot in Namibia's Namib Desert near Swakopmund in 2012, after heavy rains turned the planned Australian location green with wildflowers.

How many Academy Awards did Fury Road win at the 2016 ceremony?

Fury Road won six Oscars at the 2016 ceremony — editing, production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, sound editing and sound mixing — from ten nominations, the most wins of any film that night.

Who edited Fury Road, cutting 480 hours of footage into about 2,700 shots and winning an Oscar for it?

Margaret Sixel won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Fury Road; she is married to the director, who picked her because she had never cut an action film.

Who plays the warlord Immortan Joe in Fury Road?

Hugh Keays-Byrne plays the masked warlord Immortan Joe in Fury Road (2015); the actor had played the biker-gang leader in the 1979 original and died in 2020, aged 73.

What is the name of Immortan Joe's cliffside fortress in Fury Road?

The Citadel is Immortan Joe's fortress, carved into a cluster of rock towers; he rules by controlling its aquifer and trades water with the allied Gastown and Bullet Farm.

At the start of Fury Road, Max is strapped to a car as a living blood bag for which sick War Boy?

Max is a universal donor; Nicholas Hoult's Nux switches sides after Capable shows him kindness.

What is the name of the armoured tanker truck Furiosa drives in Fury Road?

Furiosa's War Rig is an eighteen-wheel armoured tanker; the practical vehicle was built on a Tatra 815 chassis with a 1940s Chevrolet Fleetmaster cab and a Volkswagen Beetle shell fused into the tanker.

What is the name of the homeland Furiosa is trying to reach in Fury Road?

The Green Place of Many Mothers is Furiosa's childhood home; she learns it has become a poisoned swamp the convoy already crossed, and only a few of its Vuvalini riders survive.

How many of Immortan Joe's 'wives' escape with Furiosa in Fury Road?

Five wives flee with Furiosa: the Splendid Angharad, Capable, Toast the Knowing, the Dag and Cheedo the Fragile; Angharad falls from the truck and is run over by Joe's own car.

Of the roughly 150 vehicles built for Fury Road, about how many survived to the end of filming?

Production designer Colin Gibson's team built about 150 working vehicles for Fury Road, and 88 of them survived the shoot; the rest were wrecked on camera as the script demanded.

Which Dutch composer scored Fury Road and returned for Furiosa?

Junkie XL, the stage name of Dutch composer Tom Holkenborg, scored Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Furiosa (2024); he also wrote the riffs for the Doof Warrior's flame-throwing guitar.

What is the monochrome version of Fury Road, released in 2016, called?

The Black & Chrome Edition is the black-and-white version of Fury Road released on Blu-ray in December 2016; the director has called it the best version of the film.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiered at which film festival in May 2024?

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2024; despite strong reviews it grossed about $174 million against a $168 million budget.

In Furiosa, what does the young Furiosa secretly tattoo on her left arm?

Young Furiosa secretly tattoos a star map to the Green Place on her left forearm so she can find her way home; she also keeps a peach pit from her mother, Mary Jabassa.

Who plays Praetorian Jack, the War Rig driver who trains Furiosa in the 2024 film?

Tom Burke, the English actor known for Strike and The Souvenir, plays Praetorian Jack, who teaches Furiosa to drive and fight; Lachy Hulme took over as Immortan Joe.

In the 2015 Mad Max video game, what is the name of the car Max builds throughout the story?

The Magnum Opus is the car Max assembles with his hunchbacked mechanic Chumbucket in the 2015 game; it launched on 1 September 2015, the same day as Metal Gear Solid V.

Which studio developed the 2015 Mad Max video game?

Avalanche Studios, the Swedish developer behind the Just Cause series, made the 2015 Mad Max game for Warner Bros.; an earlier attempt by God of War designer Cory Barlog was never released.

Which Australian musician plays the Doof Warrior, the flame-throwing guitarist, in Fury Road?

The Doof Warrior, the blind guitarist strapped to the front of a speaker truck in Fury Road (2015), is played by the Australian musician iOTA; his guitar really shot flames.

What working title was announced for a Fury Road follow-up covering Max's year before it?

Mad Max: The Wasteland is the working title the director gave a follow-up set in the year before Fury Road, co-written with Nico Lathouris as a novella-length treatment.