3. A Post-Apocalyptic Sydney Was Built For The End Of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
Though Beyond Thunderdome is set in a dystopia Australia, this is never clearer than during the final scene, which sees Jedediah the Pilot fly the children to the coast. Along the way, they come across the post-apocalyptic ruins of Sydney, and the reality of the destruction becomes apparent. It's a rather fleeting scene, but it's utterly striking, and required the construction of an elaborate Sydney miniature. The miniature was painstakingly detailed it involved building architectural replicas (including the Sydney Opera House) many of which were decked out with hundreds of tiny windows. On top of that, these windows were made to look cracked, smashed and warped. Of course, the concrete shells of the buildings were chipped and scorched, too. And the entirety of the city was built upon a rocky outcrop. The final detail was that of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was built to look as if it had violently collapsed. Frustratingly, the ruined Sydney miniatures were deemed too big for storage and were all destroyed at the end of the shoot.
