Mad Max (franchise) Mad Max (franchise) Mad Max is an Australian dystopian action media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with "Mad Max", and was followed by three films: "Mad Max 2" (1981), "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985) and "" (2015). Mel Gibson starred in the first three films and Tom Hardy took over as Max in the fourth film. The series follows the adventures of Max Rockatansky, a police officer in a future Australia which is experiencing societal collapse due to war and critical resource shortages. When his wife and child are murdered by a vicious
Mad Max roads. Still, as filming progressed the Victoria Police became interested in the production, helping the crew by closing down roads and escorting the vehicles. Because of the film's low budget, all but one of the police uniforms in the film were made of vinyl leather, with only one genuine leather uniform made for stunt sequences involving Bisley and Gibson. Shooting took place in and around Melbourne. Many of the car chase scenes for "Mad Max" were filmed near the town of Little River, northeast of Geelong. The early town scenes with the Toe Cutter Gang were filmed in the main