10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Road Warrior
You have to count your lucky stars when you get the opportunity to listen to filmmaker George Miller and Cinematographer Dean Semler talk about a movie they worked on. It’s especially fun when the film is a low-budget flick that wasn’t supposed to work but somehow became a classic of the action genre. I, personally, am not a fan of the original Mad Max. The Road Warrior, however, is a marvel that I can’t explain. Let’s hope that I do a better job of explaining these 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Road Warrior.
1- Good dog: They wanted a “classic Australian dog” for the film so they went to the pound looking for dogs and the one in the film started nosing a stone toward them in search of a catch. It was scheduled to be euthanized the next day but they decided to get it and train it for the film. He lived out the rest of his life on a farm.
2- Continuity: The film was shot in continuity. George Miller thinks it added to the performances by keeping the actors in the mood for the next shot. Sometimes they would have to wait for proper lighting or weather to shoot so it helped to keep them in the right frame of mind.
3- Cold in Australia: The film was shot in the winter and it was much colder than you would think. Mel would be covered in a blanket while they weren’t filming, shivering in the cold. They said as soon as they were about to shoot he would stop shivering and then the moment they said “cut” he would reach for his blanket again.
4- Casting the big guy: Humungous was an ex Mr. Sweden. The throbbing veins on the back of his head were a prosthetic.
5- A good year: They started writing the screenplay before christmas 1980 and it was released in Australia by Christmas time 1981.
6- A quick trim: Mel Gibson would get his hair cut for the shoot and then start pulling his eyebrows out and grab a pair of scissors to cut chunks out of his hair. He didn’t think he should look too kept up for the role.
7- Keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’: Max’s car being rolled off the hill was done at two different locations.
8- The real Real World: The film was shot in real weather with real lighting for the most part. You can see and feel the realness of it and most of it you would be able to do with some sort of CGI equipment now. Rain, cold, too much sunlight, the elements caused the actors and camera crew to adapt to scenes that you might not need to nowadays.
9- Ka-blwoolee: The explosion of the camp was totally real. They had to notify the airlines that it was going to happen because of all of the debris. Miller was always mad that the wind blew the black smoke out of the shot.
10- Who cares: The clouds and sky changes throughout the final chase but it is so great that no one cares. Miller and Simler agree that when you shoot a great chase scene that no one cares which way the clouds and sun are facing.
