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LAST FIVE INTERNATIONAL CREDITS

Ghost In The Shell; Suicide Squad; Black Sails; Mad Max: Fury Road.

DESCRIBE YOUR JOB

To realise the director’s vision in a physical sense.

TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE MORE MEMORABLE PROJECTS YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN

It would have to be Mad Max: Fury Road; there are so many memorable moments from that. And to come full circle, it was amazing to be part of the stunt team on Mad Max: Road Warrior. It was my introduction to a film set and coincided with the start of an amazing period in Australian film. The crew were icons of that era and I was 21 years old.

MOST CHALLENGING REQUEST ON AN INTERNATIONAL FILM SHOOT

The scale of what we did on Fury Road. It was a magic job where the whole was worth way more than the sum of its parts. All the technicians brought their A game. It was a perfect storm.

HOW DID YOU MEET THE CHALLENGE?

Every project has its unique challenges but Fury Road was up there because the challenges existed every day. On a normal film you have to really come up with an out-of-the-box solution a couple of times on a big shoot. Every day on Fury Road we were dancing on the edge of a building, so to speak, and that’s when the way you conduct yourself is important. We were making life and death decisions every day that pushed the envelope. What we were doing had never been done before – it was all about the scale.

CRAZIEST MOMENT ON SET

On Fury Road I was told by Steve Papazian (Warner Bros head of physical production) not to kill anyone. The wow moment was on our very first shot when we have Max at the front, then with one shot we pan around and see the vehicles and cast, and it ends on the Doof Warrior. We had 75 unique vehicles and 150 stunt people in the middle of the Namibian desert and it was surreal and awe-inspiring. “Are we really watching these go across this incredible landscape?” I thought.

And personally, [the craziest moment] was the opening crash of Max’s car before he gets captured. I did the take-off and the crash and it was amazing to be in the exact same car I was in 30 years after the original Mad Max.

FAVOURITE ACTIVITY IN AUSTRALIA

Spending time with family.

FAVOURITE PART OF AUSTRALIA

The north coast of NSW and southern Queensland. From Wooli Beach through to Byron Bay then up to the Gold Coast (where I live) is just gorgeous. But you’re hard pressed to find a part of Australia that’s not.

WHEN I’M NOT WORKING I…

I’m working. I am so fortunate to do something that I can always be thinking about and it’s not a chore.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS TO WORKING IN FILM AND TELEVISION IN AUSTRALIA?

The crews and the make-up of how we do things. As an island, we have had to, and have developed an incredible skill set. There’s no instruction book for how it’s done but those skill sets have been borne out of hard work and passion. In Australia, it’s about the purity of filmmaking. In other territories, it’s often just a seven-day-a-week job to earn the money.

The camaraderie, the openness and the assistance from all departments are what sets our crews apart.

IF I WASN’T WORKING IN FILM AND TELEVISION I WOULD BE…

an astronaut.

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH…

I’ve been so fortunate to work with George Miller, Peter Jackson and Baz Luhrmann. Their common denominator is that each looks at the world in a very different way. Anyone who brings a vision or a passion to what they do, I want to work with.

I KNEW I WANTED TO WORK IN FILM AND TELEVISION WHEN…

I have a very strong memory from when I was about four. My parents had a citrus orchard in Bourke (regional NSW), which had an open air cinema. I remember sitting on a hessian bag and watching Elvis in Fun In Acapulco in full colour. That was a magical, transformative experience. For my stunt work, I answered an ad in the paper in the late 70s. I was a physical child into gymnastics and motorbike riding. I went to see Frank Lennon who had placed the ad, one week shy of my 18th birthday, and his office wall was plastered with photos of car crashes, motorbikes and fireballs. He said “I can teach you to do all of this” – no more pitching was needed.

WHAT IS YOUR WORK MOTTO OR PHILOSOPHY?

Have perseverance. Working in this industry is like going to war. You have to be prepped to do the best you can every day with the ultimate goal in sight.