.jpg?dc=4675419048542948400)
Post by ANKLECRANKER on Feb 10, 2005 17:36:45 GMT -5
First publication, STARLOG #95, June, 1985; reprinted in SCIENCE FICTION FILMMAKING IN THE 1980s, McFarland, 1995.)
Dateline: Bartertown. Somewhere in the wastelands on the edge of hope. Time: the future. A bleak future where a nuclear war has forever changed our civilization. A future where one lone man becomes the agent of change. This is the world of Max, once known as the Road Warrior.
Cut back to reality. Bartertown sits in the center of the Homebush State Brickworks, the oldest brick factory in Sydney, Australia. Yet, sitting in the middle of this desolate quarry, surrounded by over three hundred extras, all dressed in post-apocalyptic clothes, not to mention the numerous goats, chickens, pigs and camels wandering about, it is easy to project oneself into the future, and imagine what life in Max's world might be like.
The first day on the Bartertown set is only slightly short of being as crazy as the future it portrays. The cast and crew of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome has just returned from five harrowing weeks on location in Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is a mining town located at the edge of the Great Stony Desert. According to the Australians, it is the opal capital of the world. Of it, Grant Page, stunt coordinator on the film, says, "It is one of the most notoriously desolate places on Earth. Any desert that won't even support flies (Australian flies can lay claim to being the world's most pernicious, enduring and aggressive!) is pretty bad!"
The Coober Pedy location was used for most of the car stunts, which were carried out in broad daylight. Some days, the temperature was measured at as much as 146 degrees Fahrenheit. People lucky enough to stay in the shade of the tents still had to suffer a temperature of 117 degrees. "The first day we worked there," comments Page, "we had eighteen open vehicles, and the people wore black leather and vinyl uniforms, with most of their skin bare. The cars were out, working shot after shot, and so were the drivers! It inevitably puts a load that normally wouldn't exist. It's got an effect on your judgment. It's got an effect on the way you pad yourself. Normally, in a cool temperature, you pad yourself with wet suits and all sorts of things until you're so well protected that you won't get hurt. But out in 146 degrees, you can't do that because you'd last three minutes and you'd be dead. We had ten people collapse with exhaustion, and twelve cars collapsed too." After such an experience, the 90 degrees-plus heat in Bartertown seems almost like paradise to everyone!
Still, the first day back in the "civilization" of Bartertown starts slowly. The visiting STARLOG reporter fortunately manages to enliven everyone's morning by taking an unrehearsed pratfall in a large and deep on-set mud pit. The sympathy of cast and crew is now acquired, but at what price!
Terry Hayes, co-producer and screenwriter, shares his excitement when telling the so-far secret story of the film. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome starts fifteen years after Mad Max II: The Road Warrior. As Mel Gibson later comments, "All the juice is now gone. What is left of society has reverted to an even more primitive level. Max himself is older, and more world-weary. He survived any way he could. He led basically a nomadic existence, coming across people and trading a few things..."
While traveling in the desert in his camel-drawn vehicle, Max is overtaken by a small methane-powered plane flown by the freewheeling bandit Jedediah and his son. Although the two characters bear no relation to each other, Jedediah is played by Bruce Spence, who was the much-loved Gyro Pilot in Road Warrior. Jedediah succeeds in taking off with all of Max's worldly goods, leaving the hero to perish in the desert.
Max manages to survive until he comes to a sign that points towards "Hope," which in turn leads him to the city of Bartertown. Bartertown sits on top of "Underworld," a giant pig farm cum methane plant, which provides power to the city. According to Production Designer Graham "Grace" Walker, the central core of the plant is an old truck on rails, covered with a huge boiler and pipes going every which way.
Entrance to Bartertown is gained only by bartering rare goods against the town's supplies and services. Fortunately, Max, who has nothing but his skills, eventually succeeds in getting himself admitted. He is then hired as a mercenary by Bartertown's Queen, Auntie Entity, played with gusto by rock star Tina Turner. Entity wants Max to kill her rival, a two-man team called Master Blaster (Master is a little person who sits on giant-sized Blaster's shoulders) who runs Underworld.
Max first agrees, but finally refrains from killing Blaster after he makes a startling discovery. "He just cannot do something like that," comments Gibson. "It's something that would bother his conscience. It may be the only thing that singles him out from the rest of the scum."
Entity's chief henchman, Iron Bar Bassey, played by Australian rock star Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo, has Max expelled into the desert, where he is found by the feral children of the Crack In The Earth, a deep crevice which contains a lush paradise at its bottom. (For the Crack, Grace Walker found a location in the Blue Mountains, sixty miles from Sydney. Only a few skin houses and cave walls had to be built, as well as the rear of an old 747.) To the children, Max is "Walker," a legendary figure that will lead them to salvation -- in the guise of civilization.
In spite of Max's efforts, several of the children sneak away from the Crack to find Bartertown. In order to rescue them, Max must decide to leave his newly-found haven...
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome sports a much more complicated storyline than the previous two movies. It takes Hayes over two hours to narrate it, or more accurately act it out. He succeeds admirably in conveying his sense of wonder and excitement, changing the level and pitch of his voice to suit the action. Although he prefers to let audiences judge the picture by themselves, Hayes even admits that there is a message in the film, for any who care to find it. A rare admission in Movieland, where few people these days seem to care about a story's moral content.
Whether or not Beyond Thunderdome has a message is not important to those on the set who scurry around, trying to set up a location that has not been used for five weeks. The "town" itself is an odd collection of adobe-like, rounded huts and old, used metal bits that have been cannibalized from ancient machines. Parts of derelict automobiles are built into the sides of buildings. Everything looks so dirty and worn that it seems it has been there forever.
Grace Walker explains the evolution of Bartertown's shabby appearance. "In the beginning, George (Miller) sort of mentioned that it had a kind of African feel, and the design of the buildings came out that way. But then, it all changed and the crazy chimneys went up."
Because Beyond Thunderdome takes place fifteen years after The Road Warrior, there was no desire, or need, to keep any similarities in design to the previous film. "We didn't want to make anything similar," explains Walker. "That's why our cars are the way they are. They've gone a bit further. Now, they're just engines with a skeleton frame. There are no auto bodies left, just bits of scrap. People live in them."
Building Bartertown was the responsibility of construction foreman Max Worrall, a tall, engaging man sporting a mohawk. "The usual rule when you're building is that it should be plumb, square and level, and you can't go wrong," he says. "Well, in Bartertown, nothing is plumb, square or level! On the other hand, that also means that you've got a little to play with. The finish is not so important, because the town is supposed to have a rough, medieval, post-apocalyptic look -- sort of like The Flintstones!"
Although no one really lives in the strange buildings of Bartertown, Worrall made sure that people could walk on some of them. He explains, "The demands of the shot quite often mean that you have people where they shouldn't be. So, you have to overtrain for that. The town is made of light steel frames with chicken wire, covered with hessian, and then sprayed with concrete."
Spectators with good eyesight and quick reflexes will spot some in-jokes thrown to the fans and hidden among the various decorations of Bartertown. For instance, on a wall is a picture of a Gremlin, and the feed and grain store has the words, "Proprietor: E.T. Spielberg" painted over its front entrance!
Dateline: Bartertown. Somewhere in the wastelands on the edge of hope. Time: the future. A bleak future where a nuclear war has forever changed our civilization. A future where one lone man becomes the agent of change. This is the world of Max, once known as the Road Warrior.
Cut back to reality. Bartertown sits in the center of the Homebush State Brickworks, the oldest brick factory in Sydney, Australia. Yet, sitting in the middle of this desolate quarry, surrounded by over three hundred extras, all dressed in post-apocalyptic clothes, not to mention the numerous goats, chickens, pigs and camels wandering about, it is easy to project oneself into the future, and imagine what life in Max's world might be like.
The first day on the Bartertown set is only slightly short of being as crazy as the future it portrays. The cast and crew of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome has just returned from five harrowing weeks on location in Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is a mining town located at the edge of the Great Stony Desert. According to the Australians, it is the opal capital of the world. Of it, Grant Page, stunt coordinator on the film, says, "It is one of the most notoriously desolate places on Earth. Any desert that won't even support flies (Australian flies can lay claim to being the world's most pernicious, enduring and aggressive!) is pretty bad!"
The Coober Pedy location was used for most of the car stunts, which were carried out in broad daylight. Some days, the temperature was measured at as much as 146 degrees Fahrenheit. People lucky enough to stay in the shade of the tents still had to suffer a temperature of 117 degrees. "The first day we worked there," comments Page, "we had eighteen open vehicles, and the people wore black leather and vinyl uniforms, with most of their skin bare. The cars were out, working shot after shot, and so were the drivers! It inevitably puts a load that normally wouldn't exist. It's got an effect on your judgment. It's got an effect on the way you pad yourself. Normally, in a cool temperature, you pad yourself with wet suits and all sorts of things until you're so well protected that you won't get hurt. But out in 146 degrees, you can't do that because you'd last three minutes and you'd be dead. We had ten people collapse with exhaustion, and twelve cars collapsed too." After such an experience, the 90 degrees-plus heat in Bartertown seems almost like paradise to everyone!
Still, the first day back in the "civilization" of Bartertown starts slowly. The visiting STARLOG reporter fortunately manages to enliven everyone's morning by taking an unrehearsed pratfall in a large and deep on-set mud pit. The sympathy of cast and crew is now acquired, but at what price!
Terry Hayes, co-producer and screenwriter, shares his excitement when telling the so-far secret story of the film. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome starts fifteen years after Mad Max II: The Road Warrior. As Mel Gibson later comments, "All the juice is now gone. What is left of society has reverted to an even more primitive level. Max himself is older, and more world-weary. He survived any way he could. He led basically a nomadic existence, coming across people and trading a few things..."
While traveling in the desert in his camel-drawn vehicle, Max is overtaken by a small methane-powered plane flown by the freewheeling bandit Jedediah and his son. Although the two characters bear no relation to each other, Jedediah is played by Bruce Spence, who was the much-loved Gyro Pilot in Road Warrior. Jedediah succeeds in taking off with all of Max's worldly goods, leaving the hero to perish in the desert.
Max manages to survive until he comes to a sign that points towards "Hope," which in turn leads him to the city of Bartertown. Bartertown sits on top of "Underworld," a giant pig farm cum methane plant, which provides power to the city. According to Production Designer Graham "Grace" Walker, the central core of the plant is an old truck on rails, covered with a huge boiler and pipes going every which way.
Entrance to Bartertown is gained only by bartering rare goods against the town's supplies and services. Fortunately, Max, who has nothing but his skills, eventually succeeds in getting himself admitted. He is then hired as a mercenary by Bartertown's Queen, Auntie Entity, played with gusto by rock star Tina Turner. Entity wants Max to kill her rival, a two-man team called Master Blaster (Master is a little person who sits on giant-sized Blaster's shoulders) who runs Underworld.
Max first agrees, but finally refrains from killing Blaster after he makes a startling discovery. "He just cannot do something like that," comments Gibson. "It's something that would bother his conscience. It may be the only thing that singles him out from the rest of the scum."
Entity's chief henchman, Iron Bar Bassey, played by Australian rock star Angry Anderson of Rose Tattoo, has Max expelled into the desert, where he is found by the feral children of the Crack In The Earth, a deep crevice which contains a lush paradise at its bottom. (For the Crack, Grace Walker found a location in the Blue Mountains, sixty miles from Sydney. Only a few skin houses and cave walls had to be built, as well as the rear of an old 747.) To the children, Max is "Walker," a legendary figure that will lead them to salvation -- in the guise of civilization.
In spite of Max's efforts, several of the children sneak away from the Crack to find Bartertown. In order to rescue them, Max must decide to leave his newly-found haven...
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome sports a much more complicated storyline than the previous two movies. It takes Hayes over two hours to narrate it, or more accurately act it out. He succeeds admirably in conveying his sense of wonder and excitement, changing the level and pitch of his voice to suit the action. Although he prefers to let audiences judge the picture by themselves, Hayes even admits that there is a message in the film, for any who care to find it. A rare admission in Movieland, where few people these days seem to care about a story's moral content.
Whether or not Beyond Thunderdome has a message is not important to those on the set who scurry around, trying to set up a location that has not been used for five weeks. The "town" itself is an odd collection of adobe-like, rounded huts and old, used metal bits that have been cannibalized from ancient machines. Parts of derelict automobiles are built into the sides of buildings. Everything looks so dirty and worn that it seems it has been there forever.
Grace Walker explains the evolution of Bartertown's shabby appearance. "In the beginning, George (Miller) sort of mentioned that it had a kind of African feel, and the design of the buildings came out that way. But then, it all changed and the crazy chimneys went up."
Because Beyond Thunderdome takes place fifteen years after The Road Warrior, there was no desire, or need, to keep any similarities in design to the previous film. "We didn't want to make anything similar," explains Walker. "That's why our cars are the way they are. They've gone a bit further. Now, they're just engines with a skeleton frame. There are no auto bodies left, just bits of scrap. People live in them."
Building Bartertown was the responsibility of construction foreman Max Worrall, a tall, engaging man sporting a mohawk. "The usual rule when you're building is that it should be plumb, square and level, and you can't go wrong," he says. "Well, in Bartertown, nothing is plumb, square or level! On the other hand, that also means that you've got a little to play with. The finish is not so important, because the town is supposed to have a rough, medieval, post-apocalyptic look -- sort of like The Flintstones!"
Although no one really lives in the strange buildings of Bartertown, Worrall made sure that people could walk on some of them. He explains, "The demands of the shot quite often mean that you have people where they shouldn't be. So, you have to overtrain for that. The town is made of light steel frames with chicken wire, covered with hessian, and then sprayed with concrete."
Spectators with good eyesight and quick reflexes will spot some in-jokes thrown to the fans and hidden among the various decorations of Bartertown. For instance, on a wall is a picture of a Gremlin, and the feed and grain store has the words, "Proprietor: E.T. Spielberg" painted over its front entrance!
