By Erin Free
In the surprisingly moving documentary, Beyond The Wasteland, producer/director Eddie Beyrouthy and producer/composer Phil Lambert introduce us to an extraordinary collection of Mad Max fans from around the world. Obsessives in the best possible way, their stories make for truly compelling viewing. Also featured in Beyond The Wasteland are some of the film’s stars themselves, including the mighty Roger Ward, who so indelibly played Fifi, Max’s hulking but amusingly theatrical police boss. The star of other local classics like Turkey Shoot, The Man From Hong Kong, The Irishman, Mad Dog Morgan and Stone, Roger Ward – a true gentleman of the local film industry, and a very happy participant at this Saturday’s very special screening of Beyond The Wasteland – talks Mad Max, fans, George Miller, and being mistaken for Yul Brynner.
What is the most unusual encounter you’ve ever had with a fan?
“Well, I guess in over sixty-odd years of making movies, TV shows, and strutting the boards, I’ve had quite a few. Most are forgotten but having been commissioned to write my Memoirs, my desk is covered in scrapbooks, programs, and over 60 diaries, all with a story to tell or a jog to my memory. I won’t O.D on the opportunity, but I will give you two. The first happened in the early eighties while I celebrated my marriage with an extended chauffeur-driven honeymoon around Sri Lanka. It was during dinner that one of the waiters asked. ‘What is your good name Sir?’ ‘Ward,’ I replied. ‘Roger Ward. Room 416.’ I thought he was organising the charge. ‘Oh, very famous name Sir, you are well known in our country.’ ‘I think you confuse me with Roger Moore.’ ‘Oh no, Sir, Roger Moore only played The Saint and James Bond; you Sir were Bob Taylor in The Man From Kong.’ My new bride was most impressed. The second incident came when I exited the stage door during my playing of Big Julie in Guys And Dolls. I had a shaved head for the role, and when an elderly lady thrust a program in my face, I signed it with a flourish. The lady glanced at what I had written. ‘What?’ she said. ‘I thought you were Yul Brynner.’ I took the program back, signed it Yul, and gave it back. ‘Thank you, Mr. Brynner,’ she said. ‘Loved you in The King And I.’”
You have the best quotes in Mad Max. Do people shout your lines back at you? Are you regularly told that you’re on the top shelf?
“Yes, it happens all the time, and they know the lines better than I do. But it is disconcerting while wandering down Oxford Street having a quiet muse when out of the blue someone is at your shoulder, shouting, ‘You and me, Max, we’re gonna give ‘em back their heroes.’ I should send them my laundry bill!”
The Mad Max films are so violent and visceral…does it surprise you that the fans showcased in Beyond The Wasteland are all so sweet and gentle?
“No, not at all; I have found the people who like my violent movies to be respectful, thoughtful, and genuine. Many of them are now friends in the true sense, and come from all parts of the world.”
Do you enjoy the big Mad Max fan events?
“Yes, I love them. It’s a chance to hear what the people think of your work. And it’s a chance for them to tell you. Also, we can have a good old heart to heart, person to person, not an actor to audience.”
George Miller is, of course, the genius behind it all. What is your take on the man himself? What sort of presence did he have all those years ago?
“It’s hard to imagine it now, but when George first arrived on my doorstep, he wore a pinstriped suit, a red bow tie, and frameless glasses. He was quiet, respectful, and shy. But within two years, he was every Hollywood tycoon. He controlled his office and those beneath him, like a Ring Master. But genius and the money it brings can do that.”
You’d appeared in some amazing movies prior to Mad Max. Did you know straight away though that this one was special?
“I knew it was different, and I sensed what George intended to do with it, but I had spent seventeen years working in great vehicles with only a minute few assembling into a semblance of what I had envisaged. So no, to me, Mad Max was just another movie. Good or bad, it would give me a paycheque, and for me, that has always been my criteria.”
Were you surprised by where the series went with Mad Max 2 and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? And did you enjoy Miller’s recharging of the Mad Max series with Fury Road?
“I haven’t seen the spin-offs. George spoke to me with regards to playing Humungus, but was unimpressed by my demands. So I left on a black cloud and refused to watch it, also three, but by the time Fury Road came out, I had forgiven him, and he, me, so I saw it for what it was: a beautiful flowing movement of continual action. But it was not Mad Max.”
What is it like on those occasions when you get to reunite with some of your cast and crew mates from Mad Max?
“Lovely! We are closer now than we were in the early days. Mature, settled, financially secure, but despite having shared the limelight and adulation bestowed upon us, we’re just working actors who happened to be cast in the proper role at the right time. So none of us take it for granted or abuse our position because of it.”
Beyond The Wasteland is all about the joys of fandom…is there anything that you’re a big fan of?
“Reading. I’d scan the phone book if I couldn’t find anything else. I also love a good musical, on the stage or film. I’m also a great fan of, and advocate of, living. And I’m going to go up, kicking and screaming, when The Great Director comes down to offer me that contract that I’d love to refuse.”
You are busier than ever as an actor! What do you put that down to?
“Young filmmakers trolling through old VHS and DVDs seeing the raw talent that no one respected back in the day. Youngsters wanting to re-create the magic we weaved on shoestring budgets. Experimenting. Winging it. Having the luxury of the 10BA. Giving us enough vehicles to work on that even if 10% got through, and 3% made it to cult status, there was enough to create Ozploitation. They want to taste that, and they do it by employing me. Or! Most of my companions and colleagues have gone to that great studio in the sky; I’m the last man standing, so who the hell else are they going to get?”
Roger Ward will be appearing with co-star Paul Johnstone and director/producer Eddie Beyrouthy at a special screening of Beyond The Wasteland on Saturday February 26 at The Skyline Drive-In at Blacktown in Sydney. Click here for tickets and all details. Click here for our review of Beyond The Wasteland.
