Tina Turner and Mel Gibson in Beyond Thunder. Photo: Getty
Singer Tina Turner, who has died at the age of 83, has had long and prominent film connections throughout her career. Whether it was Angela Bassett's unforgettable portrayal in the biopic What's To Be Done With It Love, her performance of the Bono and Edge-penned theme song to GoldenEye, or her appearance in the 2021 HBO documentary Tina, she was the person whose iconic and the unique personality seemed brilliantly suited to the film.
Therefore, it is surprising that she no longer acted. She only portrayed fictional characters three times, and two of those appearances — a cameo appearance as the mayor in Schwarzenegger's meta-flop The Last Action Hero and a brief appearance as a singing drug-addicted sex worker in Ken Russell's rock opera Tommy — were hardly whether will call. But then in 1984, George Miller came along and gave her the role of a lifetime.
Mad Max is an anomaly when it comes to action. Proudly Australian rather than American, the films revolve around hardened anti-heroes who are considerably more headstrong than their American counterparts and, in the case of the first three films in the series, starred Mel Gibson, an actor whose dogged flirtation with constant cancellation made the photos more difficult to view.
However, after directing the first two films, Mad Max and Road Warrior, Miller was in the mood to expand the series in a lighter, more fantastical direction, as well as co-directing it with director George Oglivy. He described making the first film as «a very unhappy experience», but was more pleased with its widely acclaimed sequel, which nonetheless drew comments for its extreme violence. Couldn't the third picture be more accessible and commercial — almost, you know, for kids?
In the early eighties, Tina Turner did not enjoy the career renaissance that would soon follow, but instead was seen as an act of nostalgia, still best known for her Phil Spector collaboration with her abusive ex-husband Ike. The huge success of her 1984 album Private Dancer revitalized her career, spawning her signature song on What's Love Got To Do With It and making her an A-list star again.
This return to popularity coincided with Miller writing the third installment in the Mad Max series, which revolved around Gibson's character Max Rockatansky, who encounters an isolated trading station known as Bartertown, ruled by an implacable and ferocious figure known as Aunty Entity. Although Miller and his co-writer Terry Hayes were nominally the film's antagonists, they clearly understood that Auntie was much more than a villain: as Miller told Time Out around the time of the film's release, «We didn't want to fall into that pretty bad boy cliché.» And we have a saying that today's tyrant is yesterday's hero. And if you really look at the rhythm of the way things are, that's often the case.»
To play the part, you needed an actress with phenomenal charisma, someone who could not only take on Gibson, but beat him. While there were rumors that the likes of Jane Fonda and Lindsey Wagner—the most bionic woman—were considered, there was only one real choice for the role.
As Miller told The Guardian: “In this Mad Max wilderness, anyone who survives, let alone becomes a dominant force, has to endure a lot of things that would ordinarily humiliate a person. Every time we talked about Aunty Entity at the time of writing, we were like, «Oh, someone like Tina Turner.» She was the only person we could think of. And, of course, she was the only person we ever invited.»
However, Miller — the man who turned Charlize Theron into the indomitable, jaw-dropping action hero Imperator Furiosa in Fury Road, leaving nominal film star Tom Hardy aside — was also interested in flipping expectations. As he remarked at the time of the film's release, «We wanted to create the feeling that before she built Bartertown, she was a real hero. You could tell a story about her, almost like Mad Max. You don't think of Tina Turner as someone dark. You think that the essence of Tina Turner is mostly positive. And that's what we wanted. We felt that in that sense it could be more tragic.»
Lifetime role: Tina Turner as the aunt in Mad Max: Beyond Thunder, 1985 Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo
Given the legacy of domestic abuse Turner endured at the hands of Ike, Miller could either be tactful or clueless, but she was nonetheless, in the director's words, «a survivalist… you know, you felt about her, no matter what happened, she will survive it. And then—what we talked about before—someone who still had a good person deep down, a good heart.”
The singer was intrigued by the opportunity to showcase her range and therefore cut short her Private Dancer tour to travel to Australia to film a film. She turned down an opportunity to star in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple on the grounds that she didn't want to play the victim, but when she was offered this dynamic and multifaceted role, she was thrilled.
At first she feared that as a singer rather than an actress, she would not have the technical skills that the role required, but Miller correctly guessed that the figure of her charisma and intelligence would be able to make a strong impression as an aunt. As Turner commented, «When [I heard] that George Miller wanted me to do Mad Max, it made me want to jump the tallest building in New York.» Three hours later, What's Love Got To Do With It hit number one on the charts. As Turner said, «It was a real day.»
She arrived on the set of Beyond Thunderdome in the summer of 1984, which she initially described as «rainy and rather cold,» but when production moved to the desert, Turner was so overwhelmed by the heat that a crew member had to follow her. around her always with an umbrella to shield her from the worst. As always on the set of the movie «Mad Max», all the actors faced unexpected problems and difficulties.
Turner's costume was an elaborate assembly of 70-pound chainmail, as befits a character dressed with whatever was at hand, and the singer recalled that «the wires would break, and so I would have scars in the shoulder area.» and around the waist… it was really quite uncomfortable.” She also had to shave her head to match the character's large blonde wig; Turner did so without protest.
However, she had an enjoyable filmmaking experience thanks to Miller, whom she befriended and considered a mentor. She said, «I gave myself to him… I listened to him.» The only area where she was frustrated was her inability to perform her own stunts; while she would have reveled in the opportunity, cautious insurance executives—fearing what would happen if an injury ended her lucrative tour—vetoed her participation in more difficult action scenes.
«It was a real day»: Turner's arrival coincided with a late return to her music career. Photo: United Archives GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo
And, almost inevitably, her cult status as a singer was exploited by the filmmakers, she wrote two songs for the soundtrack, one of which, the powerful ballad We Don't Need Another Hero, became another titanic hit and remained on her set list. until the end of her career.
When the film came out, many reacted to her casting with a degree of cynicism, wondering what the hell a singer like Turner was doing in the Mad Max universe. However, Miller's belief in her abilities was justified, and both the character and the actress received recognition. Aunty Entity remains today one of the show's most memorable cinematic characters, a tough, determined woman who, fittingly, ends the film not defeated or intimidated, but as strong and ferocious as she began, preferring to spare Max over the other. vice versa.
Indeed, Furiosa's character in the fourth Fury Road movie and upcoming spin-off might not have existed without Aunty Entity. As Miller told Time Out, “If you agree that heroes are agents of revolution, then there were very few female heroes in society. I don't think there's any reason why there can't be a female version… how we as viewers will react collectively, I don't know. I suspect we would have responded very well if the story had been well told.»
To Turner's credit, her incomparable performance broke all the rules and inspired millions. Just like everything else in her life and career.
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