Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome installments of the "Mad Max" series, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" has influenced popular culture in various regards. The term "thunderdome" is now used in various contexts in which its meaning is similar to the sense in which it appears in the film. That is, a contest where the loser suffers a great hardship, though it has also come to mean, more generically, the state of the world following a nuclear apocalypse, or any place where chaos is the norm. Filmmaker Chris Weitz has cited the film as an influence. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (also known as
Mad Max the meager, terse dialogue too unappealing. Casting director Mitch Mathews invited for "Mad Max" a class of recent National Institute of Dramatic Art graduates, specifically asking a NIDA teacher for "spunky young guys". Among these actors was Mel Gibson, whose audition impressed Miller and Matthews and earned him the role of Max. An apocryphal tale stated that Gibson went to auditions in poor shape following a fight, but this has been denied by both Matthews and Miller. Gibson's friend and classmate Steve Bisley, who worked with him in his only screen role, 1976's "Summer City", became Max's partner Jim Goose.