Mad Max Make-up Artist: 'We created Aussie punk'

In this excerpt from an oral history with veteran make-up artist Vivien Mepham, she talks about developing the look of the characters in Mad Max.

‘It had some magic’, says Mepham, while conceding that the film was created on a very small budget.

Some ‘leather’ costumes were actually made out of plastic, and actors' heads were shaved and hair coloured by a local Melbourne hairdresser. ‘It was punk before punk’. For wounds, Mepham sometimes used real meat and tripe!

Another indication of the low budget was that Mepham’s make-up caravan was memorably destroyed in a spectacular stunt.

Lorna Lesley interviewed Vivien Mepham for the NFSA Oral History program in 2018.

Image: Vivien Mepham’s make-up caravan is destroyed during a stunt in Mad Max, 1979. NFSA title: 763283