Mad Max fan Paul Price scores dream role as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga villain

Paul Price fell in love with the Mad Max franchise as he watched Road Warrior being filmed near his gran’s house. Now he is playing an extra in the new film, while his family runs the pub where Mel drank.

In some ways, you could compare Paul Price to Feral Kid, the scene-stealing small star of Mad Max 2.

The blockbuster 1981 movie saw Feral Kid (Emil Minty) watch Mad Max (Mel Gibson) with equal parts awe and amazement, before helping him battle Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson).

Paul Price was roughly the same age as Feral Kid – 10 – when he saw the cast and crew of Mad Max 2 race by his grandma’s house at Silverton.

The small village just outside of Broken Hill was the backdrop to this stunning Australian movie.

Paul’s parents would go on to buy the Silverton Hotel, which famously saw Gibson and Vernon Wells (Wez) pop in for a beer and a game of cards with the locals in between filming.

But it was the sight of the cast in their crazy costumes right outside his window in the early 1980s that had his eyes popping out, like Feral Kid when he spots Max’s famous V8 Interceptor.

Paul Price, wearing the red scarf in the middle of the frame, playing a small part in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

“I woke up that morning and walked outside, (and saw) all the bikers,” Paul, now 53, said. “It just sort of stuck with me for years from there.”

Now, more than 40 years later, he’s been fortunate enough to play a small part in its latest instalment, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

After Mad Max: Fury Road had to be filmed in Namibia because – of all things – rain made the apocalyptic countryside around Broken Hill look more like a paradise, locals were delighted to welcome the franchise back to its spiritual home.

It is part of the town’s history – there’s even a museum dedicated to Mad Max 2 in Silverton, and it’s experienced a welcome spike in visitors since the release of the new blockbuster.

Furiosa is Australia’s most expensive film to date – costing over $333 million, with a hefty $175 million incentive from the state government. Filming lasted eight months and saw 3000 people employed.

Chris Hemsworth stars as an antagonist in Furiosa.

When Paul heard about the filming in Silverton, he knew he had to audition to play a part.

“It was around St Patrick’s Day, so we normally go up to the pub and help mum and dad out,” he said. “And the casting call was that same weekend.”

Paul got a role as an extra – a police biker in the crew of Chris Hemsworth’s villain, Dementus. He appears in two scenes with the Aussie superstar, both in the first half of the film, as Dementus works to expand his wasteland empire.

“You just did not recognise him,” Paul said. “And he put on a show. He was really in the role.”

Paul’s shoot took place over four days and some of the gear he used on his four-day shoot was his own, which he plans on displaying in his family’s hotel.

Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa in the new Mad Max Film, Furiosa.

“It was something that I really enjoyed doing, just to be a part of it,” he said. “Not just to be on the big screen, but to be immortalised in that style, in Miller’s creation.”

Paul’s parents Peter and Patsy live and work in the hotel and saw plenty of the crew visiting during the shoot, including director George Miller.

“Each night we had 20 or 30 of them pop in and have a couple of beers, and off they’d go again,” Mr Price said. “It was pretty exciting for a couple of months.”

One day, they were invited out to the set a few kilometres away, where they saw star Anya Taylor-Joy performing as Furiosa. The crew were acting atop a scene involving several cars, which were stationary though made to seem as if they were in motion during post-production.

“You wouldn’t even know it was Silverton,” Mr Price said, when comparing his home to the final product.

Peter and Patsy Price, owners of the Silverton Hotel which famously saw cast members of Mad Max pop in for a beer between filming in 1981.

Mr Price, 78, believes fans of the film will start driving out to admire where it was made. “That happens and still continues with Mad Max 2, even today,” he said.

Meanwhile, Broken Hill Mayor Tom Kennedy said locals are still buzzing about when Hollywood came to town, and meeting Hemsworth and other cast members face-to-face.

“People really loved it,” he said. “They loved having films filmed here, especially of such a major nature as Mad Max.

“Chris Hemsworth would often be seen jogging past. People left him alone to a certain degree, but he’d go to restaurants and bakeries.”

Several other members of the community got to play roles in the cast and crew and Mr Kennedy said the production was very accommodating to them.

“They would get to speak to all the major actors and all that,” he said. “From all accounts, they were very very nice. Very into making people feel welcomed.”

Now, the town is keeping their fingers crossed for another Mad Max film.

“Mad Max has been amazing for Broken Hill, not just the latest one,” Mr Kennedy said. “Once you have a production of that size, especially with a lot of good feedback, I do believe it gives you the opportunity in the future for other major works.

“I have no doubt that all those involved in the production of Mad Max would have had a lot of good things to say about Broken Hill.”

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