George Miller would say Mad Max was a mad idea if pitched to him now

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George Miller would say Mad Max was a mad idea if pitched to him now

By Karl Quinn

If today's George Miller were to be pitched the film that launched his career in 1979, he's not at all convinced he'd think it was a good idea.

"If the younger version of myself or [producer and friend] Byron Kennedy came forward and said, 'Hey, we want to make this film called Mad Max, it's got a lot of stunts and we don’t have much of a budget,' I’d say, 'Don’t go anywhere near it.' "

Luckily, we haven't yet got time travel, so the young doctor (Miller) and his filmmaking mate are still free to raise a threadbare budget of $400,000, to engage in some very dubious practices (like illegally closing a stretch of highway) and to eventually turn out a bona fide classic of Australian cinema that will launch the career of Mel Gibson and lay the groundwork for a franchise that is still running, with a new chapter, Furiosa, due to start shooting next year.

At 75, George Miller says he is still excited by the possibilities of storytelling on film.

At 75, George Miller says he is still excited by the possibilities of storytelling on film.Credit: James Brickwood

Looking back, "it was almost ridiculous that we attempted it", says Miller. But their greatest asset, he now realises, was that "we didn't know enough not to make it".

The man behind the Max, Babe and Happy Feet series says the Byron Kennedy Award – granted annually since 1984 as part of the AFI and since 2010 the AACTA awards in honour of producer Kennedy, who died in 1983 – seeks to celebrate this.

"It's about encouraging people who are willing to go out there and try something, to keep going ... no matter how tough it gets," he says.

And in a year in which much of the industry has been brought to a standstill by the pandemic, such attributes have never been more vital.

This year the award will for the first time go to a film rather than an individual. The dozen shortlisted films were all made over the past decade, are by and large first features, and run the gamut from horror to sci-fi, thriller, romantic-comedy and coming-of-age drama.

They are: The Babadook, Beast, Cargo, Girl Asleep, I Am Mother, The Infinite Man, Mad Bastards, Mystery Road, Red Hill, That's Not Me, These Final Hours and Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead.

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Quite the head trip: Josh McConville and Hannah Marshall in time-travel rom-com The Infinite Man.

Quite the head trip: Josh McConville and Hannah Marshall in time-travel rom-com The Infinite Man.

What unifies them all, says Miller, is "an independent spirit. There's nothing orthodox about how they were made. They were made because people wanted to make them, which is the most important thing, and there's a kind of courage to that – it's a trial by fire."

For a while, it wasn't clear that the awards would be held at all this year, but the ceremony will take place on November 30, with a telecast on Seven on December 2 (featuring highlights from the first decade of AACTA Awards). With Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman just announced as AACTA president and vice-president respectively, it should have its fair share of glamour and A-list clout.

The Byron Kennedy Award is very much focused on those starting out, finding new ways of trying to turn their celluloid dreams into reality. Past winners have included Jane Campion, Rachel Perkins, Chris Lilley and Rolf de Heer.

Miller's stellar career, meanwhile, continues apace, despite the immense challenges this year has thrown up. He's currently shooting Three Thousand Years of Longing in Sydney, with Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. Though it has reportedly been 15 years in the making, few details have been let slip by Miller so far.

"One of the things I like about this film is I can't describe it as any particular genre, which at least promises it might be unique in some way," he says.

What he can say is he is "cautiously optimistic" it is going well, though he adds "the moment you get too confident about it you're usually headed for a fall".

At 75, does he still get the same buzz he did when he started out?

"Oh boy, if you didn't there's no point in doing it," he says. "I've still got a curiosity about it, let's put it that way – to try to understand how we tell stories, and why we need to tell each other stories, which I have been doing most of my life now."

The AACTA Awards will be held in Sydney on November 30. Highlights from the ceremony, and from AACTA's first decade, will be shown on Channel Seven on Wednesday, December 2, at 8.30pm, with an encore screening on Foxtel Arts on Sunday, December 6, at 9.30pm.

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