
“This relentless onslaught of thrills, spills and burning grilles is made even memorable by the bleached out backdrop from Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale, who Miller tempted out of retirement to create the vibrant and sometimes freakish visuals. He also landed roles in Royal Shakespeare Company productions such as As You Like It, The Balcony, Hamlet, and King Lear.įury Road earned four and a half stars from NME when it came out, and it was described as a “film packed with epic action sequences including a screen-devouring sandstorm, shedloads of exploding automobiles and a craggy canyon collapsing onto a speeding 18-wheeler truck.

The original Mad Max from director George Miller ( Happy Feet 2) was shot for a tiny budget. Actor Hugh Keays-Byrne has played not one, but two great Mad Max villains. Here's how he crafted Toecutter and Immortan Joe. Lorca and the Outlaws and 2084) and Resistance, the latter of which he also directed. Hugh Keays-Byrne has played not one, but two iconic roles in the Mad Max franchise. Keays-Byrne also appeared in many British and Australian projects following his time as a stage actor, including Stone, The Chain Reaction, Starship (a.k.a. I'm continually floored that he played Toecutter, the central antagonist of 1979's MAD MAX *and* Immortan Joe, the central antagonist 2015's MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Hugh Keays-Byrne, an unsung hero of Aussie cinema, has passed away at age 73. I’m continually floored that he played Toecutter, the central antagonist of 1979’s MAD MAX *and* Immortan Joe, the central antagonist 2015’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Geoghegan wrote: “Hugh Keays-Byrne, an unsung hero of Aussie cinema, has passed away at age 73. He also played Immortan Joe, the breathing apparatus-wearing tyrannical ruler of the Australian wasteland who led the War Boys in 2015’s Fury Road.
Mad max toecutter movie#
Keays-Byrne appeared in the original 1979 movie as Toecutter, the leader of a motorcycle gang who terrorised a small town in dystopian Australia. A cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

The 73-year-old’s death was announced by filmmaker Ted Geoghegan on Twitter. On its first release in the US in 1980, the film was dubbed for American audiences unused to Australian accents! Mad Max 2 was retitled The Road Warrior for its American release in 1982 so as not to alienate audiences that had not seen the first film.Īfter The Road Warrior became a sizeable international hit, Mad Max was re-released in US and UK cinemas in 1983 before finding an even bigger audience on home video in the 1980s.Mad Max actor Hugh Keays-Byrne, who appeared in the first ever movie and recent reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, has died. In contrast to posters from the first release in 1979, the re-release also highlights the plot points that led to Max becoming 'mad' – 'Max had a wife, a child and a job' – which gives the character's narrative arc more depth.Īfter it found international success, Mad Max for a time held the Guinness World Record for the highest box-office-to-budget ratio of any motion picture. To emphasise the point the film's title is accompanied by a dominating number 1 and the addition of prominent text, 'The Original' and 'In the beginning'. This advertising flyer is for the 1983 cinema re-release of Mad Max in Australia.
