MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME SERIES

Going nearly as big as her singing in Private Dancer, Tina Turner puts the Queen B in B-Movie and truly makes for a memorable villain. It's only two years before Lethal Weapon will Max out his penchant for Mad rogues even more and the actor manages to show great depth and slightly less edge in this meatier exploration of the title character. Gibson makes the most out of this, his final go-round as the Road Warrior. In this PG-13-rated sci-fi adventure, a drifter (Gibson) exiled from the most advanced town in post-apocalyptic Australia travels with a group of abandoned children to rebel against the town's queen (Turner).

Less biting and ballsy, this audience-friendly warrior road-trip troublingly makes the franchise more accessible to younger filmgoers, but winningly sports the same Mad-dening big-budget stunt spectaculars as its predecessor. In downgrading to a PG-13, this second sequel softens the character's defining hard-bitten edges but conversely deepens his complexity. He returned to the show’s 2016 revival as an adviser.Better than film history remembers, this Thunder-striking trip Beyond trades spit for polish without sacrificing the action as Mad Max takes a road toward the mainstream. In 1979, the New South Welshman was approached by British ballet dancer and teacher Peggy van Praagh to direct a revival of the 19th century comic ballet Coppélia for the Australian Ballet Company. Upon his return, he began a pilgrimage to Israel, camping next to the Sea of Galilee. In the mid-1970s, Ogilvie had a spiritual awakening, studied Siddha Yoga and flew to an Indian ashram where he meditated for one month. Ogilvie directed 23 plays and received three Melbourne Theater Critics Awards before transitioning to artistic director of the South Australian Theatre Company. Sumner persuaded him to become associate director of the Melbourne Theater Company. He was reluctant to forgo the acting career but “began to understand and realize that everything that I’d learned, both in music and dance and in the theater, seemed to come together as a director, and I began to enjoy it.” Upon his return to Australia, he was urged by noted theater directors Walt Cherry and John Sumner to consider directing. While in Europe, he studied mime under French stage coach Jacques Lecoq. “And ever since then as an actor and a director, I think I’ve searched for family.”

“I have never forgotten the fact that for me, creativity - in terms of entertainment or performing or whatever - is a family affair, has always been, whether it’s in my family or in the family I found in England,” he said in 2006. Determined to break through as a theater actor, he ended up at a family theatrical company called Jimmy James, where he learned his craft in front of an audience each night. Ogilvie was born a twin to Scottish parents on March 5, 1931, in Goulburn, New South Wales.Īt age 20, he and his mother set sail for England. The Shiralee, Short Changed, The Crossing. There is still a resonance daily in my life from the things he taught me.Īh precious Mr Ogilvie, this is a sad moment indeed. Brilliant man.”Ī gifted teacher in art, theatre and life. Ah precious Mr Ogilvie, this is a sad moment indeed. “There is still a resonance daily in my life from the things he taught me. His other features were Short Changed (1986) and The Place at the Coast (1987).Ĭrowe called Ogilvie in a tweet “a gifted teacher in art, theatre and life” and said it was was “a deep privilege to have known” him. Ogilvie also directed the 1987 miniseries The Shiralee, starring Bryan Brown and Noni Hazlehurst, and 11 episodes of the cop drama Blue Heelers. Thunderdome starred Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Frank Thring and Tina Turner, whose power ballad “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” received both Golden Globe and Grammy nominations. “And it, in a way of all the films, it’s the one I have most affection for of the three films,” Miller said in an oral history. His producing partner Kennedy had died at 33 in a 1983 helicopter crash, and Miller needed to “do something just to get over the shock and grief of all that.”Īs a result, Ogilvie, his colleague and mentor, stepped in as co-director on Beyond Thunderdome. In the 1980s, Miller gave into temptation and began crafting a third film in his acclaimed Mad Max series.

MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME SERIES

Ogilvie also was instrumental in the growing popularity of the miniseries in Australia, directing an episode of the 1983 political drama The Dismissal and the 1984 historical cricket series Bodyline, both produced by Miller and Byron Kennedy. 'Mad Max' Director George Miller Is Way Too Sane to Be a Mad Genius

Mad max beyond thunderdome