Aussie celebs make unrecognisable cameos in new Mad Max film Furiosa

A Logie winner, a reality star and a Sydney institution are among the well-known faces you’ll spot in the new Mad Max film, Furiosa.

The latest instalment in George Miller’s Mad Max franchise, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, doubles as another game of ‘spot the Aussie actor under all that post-apocalyptic make-up.’

Miller’s last entry in the series, 2015’s Fury Road featured cameos from everyone from Aussie supermodel Megan Gale to late disability advocate Quentin Kenihan.

This time around, everyone from a reality show contestant to child who made world headlines as a victim of school bullying have roles in the film – sometimes in blink-and-you’ll-miss it roles.

Here are perhaps the most surprising and unrecognisable celebs you’ll spot in Furiosa when it hits Australian cinemas tomorrow:

Lachy Hulme

Hulme out of costume … Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

… and as the fearsome Immortan Joe.

Logie-winning actor Hulme is genuinely unrecognisable – and terrifying – as leader of the wasteland Immortan Joe, taking over the role from Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played him in 2015’s Fury Road but then died in 2020 aged 73. It’s a long way from perhaps Hulme’s best-known role, playing Dr. Martin Clegg across seven seasons of the hit Aussie dramadey Offspring.

Mark Wales

Wales on Survivor. Photo: Facebook

… and in a supporting role in Furiosa.

War veteran and two-time Australian Survivor contestant Wales revealed on Instagram recently that it was a “childhood dream” to be cast in the supporting role of ‘Brake Man’ in the film.

“I sent in an audition for FURIOSA two and half years ago. I’m not a trained actor but I’ve loved film and TV my whole life so I gave it a go,” he wrote.

That led to an hour-long Zoom call with director George Miller: “He told stories about his time as a doctor emergency doctor in the 1970s and how he had dreamt of a dystopian wasteland.” Wales recalled how he “squealed” when Miller offered him the role.

Quaden Bayles

Quaden’s story of facing bullying touched the world. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Now he’s a movie star.

Young Quaden, who was born with dwarfism, hit the headlines in 2020 after his mum posted a heartbreaking video on social media, showing him sobbing after he’d been bullied in school about his size. He’s had the last laugh, though: Quaden has a memorable role in Furiosa, as a“War Pup” who plays a pivotal role in one of the film’s most dazzling chase sequences.

John Howard

The Aussie TV mainstay …

J … is back for more in Furiosa.

The actor, not the ex-PM, reprises his role from the last film as the revolting “People Eater.” We can’t decide which is more off-putting: His insatiable hunger for human flesh, or the nipple cut-outs in his three-piece suit that allow him to absent-mindedly fondle his nips every time he talks. Either way, it’s certainly a long way from Always Greener. 

Ian Roberts

Roberts on the red carpet for the premiere. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Roberts (centre) has a supporting role in Furiosa.

1990s rugby league great Roberts – the first rugby footballer in the world to come out as gay – retrained as an actor after he retired from sports. He’s played various henchman, gangsters and assorted tough guys in slew of films and TV shows, and in Furiosa,

David Collins

Collins (right) as one half of the Umbilical Brothers.

At Furiosa’s London premiere. Picture: Getty

One-half of the much-loved Aussie comedy duo the Umbilical Brothers, Collins plays the unfortunately-named Smeg in Furiosa. While Aussie audiences will mostly know him from his stand-up work, Collins has actually notched up a long list of acting credits in recent years: He’s also currently got a small role in the Ryan Gosling action comedy The Fall Guy. 

Danny Lim

Sydney institution Danny Lim.

Keepin’ it cool at the Sydney premiere. Picture: Matrix

A Sydney institution, Lim will be familiar to anyone who’s spent time in the city’s inner-West: For years now, he’s been pounding the pavement holding sandwich boards offering words of encouragement to anyone who passes by. Lim’s cameo in Furiosa is very brief, but he left the sandwich board at home to walk the red carpet for the film’s Sydney premiere earlier this month.

And then of course, there’s arguably the biggest transformation of all, from the film’s second-billed star, Chris Hemsworth. He dons a prosthetic nose and fake beard to become Furiosa’s nemesis, Dr. Dementus:

A suave-looking Hemsworth hits the red carpet. Picture: MATRIX

As a hook-nosed redhead in Furiosa.

Hemsworth’s wife Elsa Pataky also has some brief screen time early in the film.

Furiosa was shot in the tiny NSW towns of Hay and Silverton, with star Anya Taylor-Joy suggesting that filming had been just as difficult as the notoriously tough shoot for Fury Road.

“I’ve never been more alone than making that movie … I don’t want to go too deep into it, but everything that I thought was going to be easy was hard,” she told the New York Times this month.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is in cinemas Thursday May 23.