12 Perfect Casting Choices That Launched Major Film Franchises
8. Mel Gibson Mad Max
Mad Max was made independently on a budget of $400,000. It went on to earn nearly $100 million worldwide, which gave it a 20-year spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest profit-to-cost ratio for any motion picture. Mel Gibson was originally cast in the role because director George Miller only wanted to cast unknowns who didnt have other associations. He was paid $15,000 for the first film in the dystopian series. Its an origin story of sorts, with Max as a highway patrolman who is targeted by a rogue group of bikers after their leader dies in a car chase with Max. Mad Max 2 (retitled The Road Warrior in the U.S.) has Max traveling throughout the post-apocalyptic wasteland in a never-ending search for gas; he hooks up with a group of oil refiners trying to defend themselves against a marauding band of bikers. Beyond Thunderdome has Max trying to counter the moves of Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), who has set up a seedy outpost town in the wasteland. Since then, Gibson has gone on to other iconic roles, most notably of L.A.P.D. Detective Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon buddy-cop series (along with Danny Glover); and a biopic of Scottish nationalist hero William Wallace in Braveheart, which also earned Best Picture and Director nods for Gibson.
