www.madmaxmovies.com

Karol and I are still discussing the possibilities of attending Burningman this year. Anyone else interested? Still no word from Death Guild.

Karol,


This commercial could be a great thing in terms of promotion of the often overlooked "Mad Max" legend (especially the greater overlooked Thunderdome one --- Forgive me, but it could be the first "Aunty Entity" rip-off/homage ever been!), but they are definitely dumb-asses. Still, I'm looking for the commercial.


Keep me informed, somehow.

Hi Max costumers ...


I'm pretty sure that I've posted this info before but it seems timely to mention it again.


Not for a moment would I seek to diminish the efforts that would clearly go into building Aunty's costume from chain mail ... or the strength required to wear it ... the original costume was made from aluminium handbag material.


A collegue was working as a props buyer on the project. Tony Hunt ... I guess he's in the credits (not everyone employed gets credited as frequently they are brought in by a department head due to special skills or just too much work to be done and another set of hands is needed) ... found a chainmail like material in a wholesalers showroom in Petersham Sydney. It was either Glomesh or Oroton. He took a sample back to the costume dept who'd been trying to build it using mail but the weight was too great for Ms Turner. You can see in the film that the fabric is easily moved by body movement unlike mail which has to overcome the greater inertia resulting from its weight. It is also used as a hanging in Aunty's throneroom.


Tony also spent weeks scouring wrecking yards for the bits that hang from the buggies.


I spent a week or so in the costume dept mainly distressing the leather garments ... step one was to put a chain through the legs and arms of the brand new clothes and drag them around behind a ute !! Not very high tech but effective. As I was on set I also got dragged in as an extra in the thunderdome scene ... whoever estimated the number of extras screwed up and half the crew are up on the scaffold.

Wow Pete where were you when I was trying to find out information about building that costume? I made mine out of chainmail. I wish I had known about the Glomesh or Oroton. Well it was an effort of love. I had been told that Ms Turners costume was made of steel links and weighted about 90 lbs. Mine is made of aluminum links but with the frame still weights about 60 lbs. It was interesting to make and Iam very proud of it, even if we didn't use it in the commercial.


Anyway, it took me 10 months, and I learned a lot about building things during that time. Thanks for the information.


Javelyn aka Karen

Hello Karen


I had a look at your costume and it is phenomenal !!


I am still in touch with Tony by email ... he was the standby props person at the Aust Film TV and Radio School where I teach for 6 years but is in semi retirement these days. I'll see if I can get a clearer idea of exactly which fbric was used just out of curiosity and let you know. I recall that the fabric was at the wholesaler as an end of run remnant so maybe isn't available. It was a real seventies/eighties thing that you could get an evening gown in the same material as the handbag ... well out here in fashion boonies anyway.


Have you ever worn your costume anywhere ?


I acted in one of the student filme ... The Great Sascha ... wher I played a Circus clown and had to go to the MAcquarie Centre ... local mall... to do some banking. It was kind of cool as noone knew whether to take me seriously. Not that's anything new for me.

Hey Karol..sorry for the long delay in responding..been a busy week and I'm still getting "timed out" by this web site.Anyway....how do I know so much about the Death Guild,well it's really pretty simple,I read their web site and cross referenced it with Burning Man forums and some other web sites and that's about it...sorta. I also have a friend via the internet that knew of them that lives over there.


And as to the movie people not knowing the value of the costume you made...welcome to the reality of "The Industry"! I've done a few movies (nothing big folks..just part of the scenery!) and I've been amazed at how directors have no clue about personal belongings that come with the "extras" that they feel belongs to them.Case in point,my horse ... I was told to give my personal horse to a stuntman for a scene in Wild Wild West...I told him that ol' Biscuit was "union" and they could pay union wages for him...at first the reenacting director objected...so many of us began to ride off,he changed his mind and I was $250 richer. The best part was the guy that was a supposed seasoned trained rider stuntman...Biscuit (my horse) bucked him off right away! So yep,with movie people be careful of what you offer and be guranteed that they will NOT value it the same as you do...especially if you're not an "insider".

Hey Pete..


Actually that is interesting.. Yes I have worn the costume for several different competitions here on the west coast. Once in Seattle and in the tri-cities and also here in my home town of Spokane, Washington. Mainly at Sci-fi conventions.


Well I think its fascianting how they worked her costume. I know mine isn't exactly the same but I had really little to work with. From the pictures of the film, it looked like chain maile, at least to me. So thats why I decided to go with chain maile. Like I said before I had a pretty good time putting it together. I was fortunate to have a freind who helped me build the frame for it. I don't know how they made the original one.. I wonder what they ever did with it.


I have an aquaintance named Dragon Dronet who is a stunt man and actor in Hollywood, he comes to our sci-fi convention and he said he met Tina Turner and he thought the costume was pretty good. Its hard to duplicate the originals sometimes if you can't get the same material.


Anyway at the cons I usually lip-synked (sp) the song to thunderdome. Had a super time doing it. Iam by profession a psychiatric nurse. I just like costuming and have done that at sci-fi cons since 1995.


So If you get the opportunity to ask you friend I would be pleased if he would comment on my costume. No Iam not a professional but I take great pride in the ones I Have worked on. Thanks karen