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Summary
FromThe GeneraltoBen - HurtoOnce Upon a metre in the West , there are many definitive movie that have determine George Miller ’s iconic work on theMad Maxfranchise . Miller latterly sit down withVanity Fairfor an interview about his cinematic inspirations . As a spaghetti western actioner set in a post - apocalyptical barren , theMad Maxseries has tie from a disparate stove of sources . In theVanity Fairvideo , Miller named a wide variety of movies , from the desert - set war epicLawrence of Arabiato the dumb slapstick comedySafety Last ! , as influences on his filmmaking dash .
Miller ’s M.O. is to tell a story visually , instead of rely on expositional dialogue . He believes that arrant film can be understood through the images alone . Miller reword Alfred Hitchcock to excuse that he wants to make films where “ they do n’t have to read the subtitle in Japan . ”Some of Miller ’s influence are obvious ; it ’s clear as day that Max ’s sole - wolf man - of - few - words characterization was inspired bySergio Leone ’s stoical gunslingers . But some of Miller ’s influences are more obscure – how didJurassic Parkinfluence theMad Maxseries ?
Movie
Rotten Tomatoes Score
brainsick Max
90 %
Mad Max 2 : The Road Warrior
94 %
unhinged Max Beyond The Thunderdome
79 %
Mad Max : Fury Road
97 %
Furiosa : A Mad Max Saga
George Miller ’s huffy Max film serial has a variety of great scenes , from emotional beat to the relentless Salmon P. Chase scenes the dealership is known for .
10The General
Learning Practical Stuntwork With The Great
One of the first movies that Miller mentions in theVanity Fairvideo is Buster Keaton ’s 1926 mute comedyThe General . Inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase , a real event that take place during the American Civil War , The Generalrevolves around an engine driver singlehandedly trying to regenerate his train , which has been steal by Union spies . While it was n’t well - received on its initial release , The Generalhas since been reappraised for Keaton ’s dying - defying stunt employment on a moving train .
Miller even recreatedThe General ’s iconic low - angle shooting of a geartrain on a rail inBeyond Thunderdome .
Miller was inspired by Keaton ’s penchant for doing “ fantastically unsafe ” stunt for genuine in the service of cinematic spectacle . His own economic consumption of practical stunt work intheMad Maxmovies – arguably the franchise ’s biggest merchandising point – was directly act upon by Keaton ’s groundbreaking ceremony oeuvre onThe General . Miller even recreatedThe General ’s iconic low - slant dead reckoning of a wagon train on a track inBeyond Thunderdome .
9Kagemusha
Color and Composition Influence
Cast
In theVanity Fairvideo , Miller says that when he first came to Japan , his Japanese fans told him that they saw Max as a samurai and put on Miller was heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa ’s classic samurai film . But , much to their dismay , he’d never even heard of Kurosawa , so he then made it his deputation to get up on Kurosawa ’s samurai canon . In the TV , Miller praise Kurosawa for take away the tropes and conventionality of American cinema and reinterpreting them through his own electron lens .
He specifically mentions 1980’sKagemushaas an influence on the laterMad Maxfilms . There ’s a well-defined parallel of latitude between Kurosawa ’s colorful filming inKagemushaand the brilliant , concentrated visuals of Miller ’s latter - dayMad Maxmovies . Kagemusha ’s shot of a silhouetted samurai with blood - red composition is closely monovular to a red - tinged shot ofDementus inFuriosa .
Many of Hollywood ’s top directors cite the fabled Akira Kurosawa as inspiration . His influence is seen in tons of popular movies , like Star Wars .
8Once Upon A Time In The West
A Masterclass in Visual Composition
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Miller mentions that the western writing style was one of the heavy influence on theMad Maxfranchise . He calls theMad Maxmovies “ westerns on bike . ”Like most western sandwich , Mad Maxtakes place in a bare , outlaw wasteland where danger is lurking around every corner . The director specifically name - hinderance Sergio Leone ’s breathtaking epicOnce Upon a Time in the Westas a optic influence on his creation of theMad Maxfilms .
Charles Bronson ’s vindictive antihero “ Harmonica ” belongs to the same archetype as Max himself
Once Upon a Time in the Westessentially train all of Leone ’s favorite moments from the storied account of the western genre and stitched them together in one big , determinate western opus . The direction that Leone frames the bleak western landscapes , contrast eye - popping all-encompassing stab with intense closeup , has mickle of law of similarity with Miller’sMad Maxcompositions . Plus , Charles Bronson ’s vindictive antihero “ Harmonica ” belongs to the same pilot as Max himself .
7Jurassic Park
Influence of Jurassic Park’s VFX on Visual Possibilities
Miller describes Steven Spielberg ’s dinosaur - infested sci - fi thrillerJurassic Parkas “ the first grownup issue in digital film . ”James Cameron had already created a liquid state - metal Terminator inTerminator 2 : Judgment DayandYoung Sherlock Holmeshad bring a sully - looking glass knight to life . ButJurassic Parkwas the first movie with gobs of VFX guessing and several major CG fictional character .
The VFX inJurassic Parkdirectly inspire Miller to make a movie about talking animals ( Babe ) , but it also showed him the measureless originative possibility allowed by this new engineering . In his post - CGIMad Maxmovies , Fury RoadandFuriosa , Miller has emphasize the use of practical stunt over ocular event . But he ’s been able-bodied to use VFX to touch up the visuals and create images that would n’t have been potential without the technological breakthroughs made byJurassic Park .
6Lawrence Of Arabia
Inspiring Mythical Figure Imagery
When it comes to landscape painting photography in the desert , Lawrence of Arabiais the bench mark . David Lean ’s nearly four - hour heroic chronicles the adventures of T.E. Lawrence and his part in the Arab Revolt of the First World War . Freddie A.Young ’s arresting motion-picture photography is the cause why the movie is so iconic . unseasoned depict Lawrence ’s journey across the desert with breathtaking wide shot of sand as far as the eye can see , burning in the blistering sunlight .
FromMad Max 2 : The Road Warrioronward , theMad Maxfranchise has taken lieu in a bleak post - apocalyptic waste in which civilization has been repress to one big , bare desert . In shooting those desert landscapes , Miller has taken aspiration from Young’sLawrence of Arabiacinematography . Like Lawrence , he ’s turned Max into a interchangeable mythic build that audience can attend up to .
5Safety Last!
The Practical Stunt Work Inspiration
The Generalisn’t the only silent funniness of the 1920s that influence Miller ’s study on theMad Maxmovies . He also cite the 1923 Harold Lloyd filmSafety Last!as an inhalation . Lloyd plays a small - town man who moves to the big city to make his fortune , after which his girl will move out there and get hitched with him . UnlikeThe General , Safety Last!has been beloved since its initial release ; it was wide acclaim by critic and shot Lloyd to stardom .
4Stagecoach
Inspired Cinematic Language in Mad Max: Fury Road
Once Upon a Time in the Westisn’t the only westerly film to have a direct influence on theMad Maxfranchise . Mad Max : Fury Roadis essentially a post - revelatory remaking of John Ford ’s seminal western masterpieceStagecoach . Stagecoachrevolves around a group of multitude traveling together , who encounter themselves crusade for survival when their coach is attacked by Geronimo and his men . This is more or less the same story asFury route : a group of the great unwashed travel across the desert while under blast .
When the hallmark of the westerly genre were still being iron out out by early Hollywood filmmakers , Ford went a long way towards establishing the music genre ’s cinematic language inStagecoach . Stagecoachwas a monumental influence on American picture palace , but its influence traveled oversea , too . Kurosawa was strongly charm by Ford in his Japanese celluloid , just as Miller take Ford ’s influence in his Australian motion picture .
3Howl’s Moving Castle
Steampunk Aesthetic Influence
Another one of the influence mentioned in Miller’sVanity Fairvideo is the classic Studio Ghibli animationHowl ’s Moving Castle . ululation ’s go Castleis an anti - war chef-d’oeuvre set in a fantasy world where two kingdoms are at warfare , battling each other with both early twentieth - 100 engineering science and magic . The story revolves around a untried milliner who is transformed into an aged cleaning woman by a beldam and gets sweep up in an adventure with a wizard named Howl .
It ’s easy to see how the steampunk artistic ofHowl ’s Moving Castlehas influenced the visual style of theMad Maxfranchise . Much likeMad Max ’s post - apocalyptical waste , the humans ofHowl ’s Moving Castleis a state of war - rupture hellscape , but it ’s bursting with bright colour . The titulary moving castle is the same kind of giant , lunky , exhaust - vomit up rig that the villain of theMad Maxuniverse drive around in .
From the sandstorm in Fury Road to the tanker chase in The Road Warrior , the Mad Max enfranchisement is jam - packed with great cable car chases and action scenes .
2Ben-Hur
Classical Roman Influence in Furiosa
Miller mentions being blown by when he saw the chariot episode in both the 1925 silent rendering ofBen - Hurand the big - budget MGM remake . The chariot episode is well the most iconic scene from either version ofBen - Hur . Miller specifically mentions the dazzling widescreen visuals of the MGM movie when discussing the scene ’s impact on the action sequence ofMad Max . Ben - Hur ’s chariot solidification - firearm is the sort of shot that the big screen was made for .
The vehicular carnage of theMad Maxfranchise has always been influenced by the high - octane chariot sequence fromBen - Hur . ButFuriosacontains a more specific reference book toBen - Hur ’s most memorable bit . Miller decided that Chris Hemsworth ’s baddie , Dementus , would see himself as a classical Roman name , so he direct his biker pack from the back of a motorize chariot .
1The Searchers
Visual Reference and Homage in Mad Max 2
The climactic tanker chase inMad Max 2 : The Road Warrioris a nod to the Apache chase fromStagecoach , but that ’s not the only Ford movie thatMad Max 2borrows from ; the sequel also referencesThe searcher beetle . The Searchersstars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards , a Civil War veteran who feels out of position in a post - war mankind where his value are outdated and his violent skills are no longer useful . When his niece is abducted , Ethan rides out into the desert to regain her .
Much like Ethan , the title grapheme inMad Maxis a human race out of his time just assay to do the right thing at any cost
When Max is up on a hill at night , watching the biker gang camped out in the distance , Miller include a visual reference toThe Searchers . The composition of this shot is similar to the second when Ethan sit down atop a mountain and regard at the Comanche camp . Much like Ethan , the rubric character inMad Maxis a man out of his time just trying to do the right thing at any monetary value .
Source : Vanity Fair
Mad Max is an Australian post - revelatory enfranchisement created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy . The first three flick star Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky , a former police military officer who try retaliation after his mob is slay . Tom Hardy took over the role for 2015 ’s Mad Max : Fury Road , which was follow by Furiosa : A disturbed Max Saga star Anya Taylor - Joy as Furiosa .
Mad Max is an Australian post-apocalyptic franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. The first three films star Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a former police officer who seeks revenge after his family is murdered. Tom Hardy took over the role for 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which was followed by Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa.
