THE FIVE TENETS1. PURPOSE

recycle, rework, re-interpret resources: blood wrought from every stone

2. POSITION the little you have, scar and shoe, tool and toy, speak volumes

3. PIETY to be seen devoted is to be saved … Witness Me!

4. POLYMORPHOUS three-fifths of bugger-all posing as a swiss army knife

5. PERSONAL car is temple, home and hope, a fetish to tie man to machine

THE VEHICLESSTORY AT A HUNDRED

MILES AN HOUR,SALVAGE FOR SAVAGERY,

FETISH FOR FAILED FUTURE

‘CAR’ACTERS THAT DO THEIR OWN STUNTS

Rarely do you get the chance to fabricate an entire world from the scraps of your own, rarer still the time to interrogate what drove the characters before you build what they drove… for this relief, much thanks. We were first able to write a manifesto or New Aesthetic, a rule book for a world in freefall, the need for survival tempered by the need for community and the lingering guilt over the lost civilization ‘before’, the Belonging and the Longing, the innate need for beauty as we teeter at the edge of annihilation.

This design ethic allowed us to be true to the philosophy our Warboys also had to follow: dream what might have been, salvage what you may, build to do battle and make a fetish of your love and lust. I think that’s what gives us an internal logic and a truth, that we build the machines and pit them against each other and the elements, mankind struggling as ever against itself and against physics. What goes up, comes down; what goes fast, stops hard. History.

From the early concept art of Brendan McCarthy, the detailed WarRig modeling of Peter Pound and the incredible passion of Art Directors, artists, mechanics and panelbeaters, steelies and sculptors, all inspired by George’s transcendent imagination and vision, the process was a joy and, to quote Yeats, “a terrible beauty is born”.

THE GIGAHORSE

SCALE: 1:20

0 5' 20'

0 1 5 metres

10'

REAR BUMP STOPS and DROOP

STRAPS

FRONT BUMP STOPS and DROOP STRAPS

THE WARRIG

THE DOOF

THE ARMADA

THE POLECAT

LOCATIONSWhile Namibia, South Africa and Sydney all offered different flavours of desert and ‘wasteland’, the locations still required much work for access, stuntwork and environmental awareness. All were ‘prepared piano’ for the new jazz, hundreds of faux rocks to protect and hide the extant greenery, resize canyons and control impacts. To my construction managers, Brendan Smithers (Africa) and John Rann (Australia), much credit is due.

SETSA dozen sets built on two continents, brief moments to pause between chase and race and flesh out the realities of a world in freefall. Sixty tons of steel for the Cogfodder toiling on the platforms above the Citadel, tunnel and cave and sluice for manhunt and mayhem as Max attempts escape, and Ponnix garden, Dairy and Biodome for pampered wives and the Immortan’s nearest and dearest.

THE THREE SISTERS

WINCH ROOM

WINCH PLATFORMS IN STUDIO

BLOODBANK

COGFODDER

THE CITADEL

BOG AND MECHANICAL TREE

EVERY FETISH TELLS A STORY

THE CLAW

WORK HISTORYOver the last thirty years, as actor, props master, art director and production designer I have been fortunate enough to work with many great directors on such projects as:

Ray Lawrence (‘Bliss’) Yahoo Serious (‘Young Einstein’, ‘Reckless Kelly’)John Duigan (‘The Year My Voice Broke’, ‘Flirting’, ‘Careless Love’)Mojgan Khadem (‘Serenades’)Chris Noonan (‘Babe’)Gillian Armstrong (‘Last Days of Chez Nous’)Stephan Elliott (‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, ‘Welcome to Woop Woop’)Wim Wenders (‘Until the End of the World’)Yimou Zhang (‘The Great Wall’) and of course, George Miller (‘Babe/Pig in the City’, ‘Happy Feet’) and ‘Fury Road’.

CREWThe stop/start nature of the production’s history and it’s multi-national shooting schedule has left a legacy of multiple co-workers:

Supervising Art Directors Charlie Revai and Richard Hobbs Art Directors Jacinta Leong, Shira Hockman, and Marko Antonnen and Set Decorators Katie Sharrock, Lisa Thompson and Nicki Gardiner. A host of artists, mechanics, steelies, sculptors, scenics and salvage artists all contributed talent and passion, and we all thank you for your interest.