Trivia / Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

• Billing Displacement: While Mel Gibson is top-billed within the film itself, several of the posters and other advertising materials bill him beneath Tina Turner, as Gibson was still somewhat well-known off the back of the previous film, but wouldn't really hit it big with American audiences until Lethal Weapon, two years later.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero" reached number two on the U.S. charts, number three on the UK charts, and number one in Australia, in the summer of 1985.
• Creator Breakdown: After Byron Kennedy's death just before the start of filming, George Miller was too grief-stricken to direct the whole thing. He's end up splitting directorial duties with George Ogilvie, handing the action sequences while Ogilvie handled the narrative ones.
• Deleted Scene: Two scenes were cut from the film to bring down the running time. In the first, Max dreams of his murdered wife and son, wakes up and cries. He realises he's become just as bad as the animals he used to hunt down as a cop. The other is Max takes a dying Gekko to the top of a sand dune at night, sees the lights of Bartertown and tells him they've reached Tomorrow-Morrow Land. A few seconds of this scene are included in the music video for Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero."
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: For most of the movie, Blaster is played by the neurotypical Paul Larsson, who was chosen for his imposing height. For the unmasking scene, however, the creators cast Stephen Hayes, who had Down Syndrome.
• Dolled-Up Installment: This was originally not a Mad Max film, but a post-apocalyptic Lord of the Flies film about a tribe of children who are found by an adult. Then George Miller was suggested that Max be the man who finds the children.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Tina Turner willingly (and gleefully) shaved her head for her wig to fit properly.
• In Memoriam: This movie is dedicated to Byron Kennedy, who was killed in a helicopter crash during production of the movie.
• The Other Darrin: In the European French dub, Jacques Frantz replaced Patrick Floersheim as Max (Frantz became Mel Gibson's regular French voice with this film).
• One-Hit Wonder: This was the only credit of any real note for co-director George Ogilvie, whose other credits are limited to a few obscure films and episodes of Australian TV shows.
• Playing Against Type: Tina Turner was cast as Auntie Entity partially based on her positive real-life persona, which at the time was only heightened by public sympathy for the abuse she had suffered from her ex-husband Ike. George Miller believed that casting a woman seen as a beloved survivor-heroine in the real world would give Auntie Entity a Fallen Hero-Anti-Villain vibe, to better contrast her with the villains of the other films. Crosses over with Reality Subtext.
• What Could Have Been
  • Jane Fonda was considered for Aunty Entity.
  • The writers considered killing Max off at the end.
• Working Title: Desert World.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Bruce Spence played the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and plays Jedediah in this film. While both characters fly airborne vehicles, Word of God states they are not actually the same person — especially as the Gyro Captain ended up becoming the leader of the Great Northern Tribe.
  • In the French dub, the Collector is voiced by Henry Djanik, who did Lord Humungus in the previous film.

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