Mad Max: Fury Road red carpet premiere draws the stars

MAD Max star Megan Gale swapped the desert for the red carpet at the Aussie premiere of the blockbuster film, drawing a host of Aussie celebs.

SOME of the stars of Mad Max: Fury Road have safely walked the red carpet in Sydney for the Australian premiere of the film, having endured a gruelling and dangerous time filming the movie in the Namib Desert in Namibia.

The combination of desert weather conditions with director George Miller’s practical (rather than computerised) effects for what is essentially a massive car-chase movie, made for trying times for the actors involved.

The harsh desert conditions were even a challenge to 208cm, former wrestler and Australia’s strongest man, Nathan Jones who doesn’t wear a lot while playing the character Rictus Erectus during the film.

Pia Miller.

Megan Gale.

“It dropped down to about -2 degrees in the morning and then straight up to 45 degrees in the middle of the day,” he told AAP on the red carpet on Wednesday night.

“So when they said action I just acted like I didn’t feel anything but when they said cut I just crumbled.” With these conditions in mind, spare a thought for Megan Gale who spent her first day on the set as The Valkyrie in her birthday suit.

“I’m pretty nude, that was my first day on the job, that was day one. That was actually meant to be day three but the shooting schedule changed,” Gale told AAP.

“I was just like ‘Let’s just get this one done and dusted’ but George assured me that he would handle it all very well and very tastefully, and there’s nothing sexual about it.

“There’s a reason my character’s nude so it’s relevant, it’s not nude for the sake of getting nude.” However, couple a nude scene with her first day working with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron and it’s a whole other level of nerve-racking.

Tegan Martin.

Osher Gunsberg and Audrey Griffen.

“That was pretty intimidating,” she said on the red carpet.

“I was more worried about the scene with her than being nude because I didn’t want to let her down.

“So that was pretty terrifying.” As for the real-life action scenes, actor John Howard, who plays The People Eater, said there were some particularly scary repercussions for some of the stuntmen who he said looked at times like they could die.

“For the crusty demons, and people like that, they were way out on a limb, and a long way from help. And some of the stunts that they do are extraordinary and the real deal,” he told AAP.

“In the middle of the desert it’s like a moonscape sometimes. So it was dangerous.

John Howard.

Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich.

“Fortunately as far as I know only one of the stunties got injured but, boy, they were out there and they were out there for a long time,” he said.

Some of the vehicles that survived the crazy scenes were on show at the Sydney Opera House forecourt on Wednesday as part of the film’s promo Down Under.

“Every toy imaginable has been used on this movie,” Howard said. In fact, the post-apocalyptic procession to the Opera House caused a three-hour shutdown of Sydney’s busy Cahill Expressway on Wednesday.

Jones said this real-life approach made it easier for the actors.

Prinnie Stevens

Miranda Tapsell and Sophie Hensser.

“In a blue screen or green screen you’re not acting to anything but we’ve got all this environment, we’ve got all these engines roaring, it’s all very real, nitty gritty, it gets your adrenaline pumping,” he said.

The film’s stars, Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, didn’t make it to the Aussie premiere as they were in Cannes for the film’s screening on Thursday.

However, it’s still predicted to become the biggest Australian movie of all time.

*Mad Max: Fury Road opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday.

Lachy Hulme and Lydia Ross.

Michala Banas.

Jane Allsop.

Firass Dirani and Rhys Muldoon.

Originally published as Mad Max: Fury Road red carpet premiere draws the stars