Double trouble
Lachy Hulme’s dreams have been realised with two roles in Mad Max
Lachy Hulme met Mad Max director George Miller under slightly shady circumstances. The aspiring young actor was fresh out of college, and still three years away from his first film role, when he decided to gatecrash the 1991 Australian Film Institute Awards. At the after-after-party he spied his hero Miller, who had conquered Hollywood with his Mad Max trilogy and The Witches of Eastwick.
“I peppered him with questions about Witches of Eastwick and what it was like to work with Jack Nicholson,” recalls Hulme. “He’d had a few red wines, so he was very loquacious with me and told me the whole story of the shoot. And it was unbelievable.”
It wasn’t until almost three decades later that the pair reconnected, while the country was locked down in the pandemic. In the meantime, Hulme had carved out a successful acting career with film roles in the Matrix sequels, The Killer Elite and Any Questions For Ben? as well as TV roles in Offspring, The Hollowmen, Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War (for which he won a Logie) and Romper Stomper. Miller, meanwhile had gone from strength to strength, with two Babe films, the Oscarwinning Happy Feet and its sequel, and long-awaited and rapturously received Mad Max: Fury Road.
“We were in lockdown in 2020 and my agent rang and said ‘Dr George Miller wants to Skype with you tomorrow about a movie’. And I said to her, ‘Lisa, if you are f--king lying to me and this is a joke – then you’re sacked right now’.
“So the next day – and bearing in mind we were in lockdown and hadn’t had any human contact in months – suddenly I had Dr George on my laptop. It was like having a guest in the living room and we had a 45minute Skype session arranged and it ended up going for around four and a half hours. What actually kicked it off was he said ‘look, Lachy, I am doing this movie …’ and I said ‘yeah, I’ll do it’. And he said ‘great – but you don’t know anything about it yet’ and I said ‘I don’t need to – I have wanted to work with you my whole life and I told you that back in 1991’.”
That initial chat, during which the pair bonded over their favourite film The Godfather Part II, led to many more as the two became firm friends. The movie in question was Miller’s 2022 fantasy romantic drama, 3000 Years of Longing, in which Hulme played an Ottoman sultan, and that led to Hulme scoring two roles in the latest chapter in the Mad Max saga, Furiosa, the prequel to Fury Road.
Again, Hulme didn’t much care what the role was, getting to work with Miller again – and on a Mad Max movie no less – was enough. Hulme still vividly remembers his first exposure to the post-apocalyptic action series as a 10-year-old, when he saw the black-clad, shotgun toting Mel Gibson in the poster for the second film while at the movies.
“I remember my flesh crawling then,” he says. “I still hadn’t seen the first Mad Max but I had locked it into brain; ‘I gotta see these movies’.
“So to be part of them finally has been a lifelong dream and I think not just for me, but for any Australian actor worth their salt, you want to be part of these movies. I always say that the Brits have James Bond and Harry Potter and the Yanks have Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones and we’ve got Mad Max Rockatansky – and now we’ve got Furiosa.”
So what does that say about the Australian national psyche?
“Well, I think we’re just a bunch of sick bastards, really,” Hulme laughs.
Hulme was initially cast in Furiosa as Rizzdale Pell, a one-eyed, terrifying-looking henchman to Chris Hemsworth’s power-hungry, villainous war lord Dementus. As is
Miller’s wont, he encouraged all his actors to come up with a backstory for the characters and why they do the wicked things they do in the violent, irradiated Wasteland, where life is cheap and guns and ammo rule.
Hulme had mighty boots to fill for his other character in Furiosa – that of Immortan Joe. The masked war lord had been the main antagonist to the older version of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa and Tom Hardy’s Max in the Oscar-nominated Fury Road and was originally played by Hugh KeaysByrne, who died in 2020.
Originally Miller was going to use body doubles and deepfake digital technology to recreate the character, but Hulme thought that Keays-Byrne, who also played the Toecutter in the original Mad Max, deserved better. He thought he could be the man for the job and told Miller so.
“I said ‘somebody needs to step up for Hugh – why can’t I play both roles?’,” Hulme says. Miller agreed – but for Hulme it was a case of careful what you wish for. The elaborate costume, featuring armour and a breathing apparatus designed to disguise a rotting body, was bulky and heavy, with boots that weighed 16kg and a skirt that was a further 20kg.
“If you go back and watch Fury Road, Hugh Keays-Byrne is doing things in that costume where he is running,” Hulme marvels. “If Hugh were still alive, I’d be 20 years younger than him, so what the f---? My first day I was staggering around like the tin man who hasn’t had the oil put in yet. It was full on.”
It’s no secret our go-to sleeping positions say a lot about us. Whether you drift off to sleep in a foetal position, a starfish or with the help of a big (or little) spoon, each and every one of us rests differently. But as it turns out, your sleeping habits could say more about your health than they do about your personality. In fact, studies show back pain from an uncomfortable slumber is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sleep posture.
“Sleep positions can significantly affect your overall health, comfort, and the quality of your sleep,” explains physiotherapist and sleep expert Sammy Margo. “Each position has its pros and cons, and understanding them can help you make adjustments for better sleep and health outcomes.”
“What you do in the day generally triggers the pain and discomfort that is felt when you sleep in certain positions,” adds sleep scientist Dr Kat Lederle.
“One of the most common contributing factors to this is a sedentary lifestyle, so it is important to move regularly during the day.”
FRONT SLEEPERS
Though there are certain pros to sleeping on you stomach – like reduced snoring and more open airways – it’s also the position most commonly linked to neck and back pain.
“Twisting your neck to the side puts strain on your neck, and stomach sleeping can also arch your spine,” explains Margo. “Direct pressure on the face can contribute to wrinkles over time.”
If you’re a front sleeper, experts advise the use of a thin pillow (or no pillow at all) to alleviate postural pain, and to place a pillow under the pelvis to help support the lower back.
BACK SLEEPERS
Anyone who lives with a snoring partner knows back sleeping can be a little tricky to live with – for anyone in the bed.
According to Lederle, one of the most common (and problematic) conditions associated with back sleepers is sleep apnoea. This is where the soft tissue at the back of the throat relaxes during sleep, collapsing the airway and causing snoring or interrupted breathing.
As the expert says, sleep apnoea disrupts the continuity and quality of a person’s sleep, leading to tiredness, which can impact daily activities like work or driving.
“There are also physical health implications,” she says.
“We know that poor-quality sleep raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease and other comorbidities. Sleep apnoea opens the door to all these other conditions.”
To counteract these issues, Margo suggests back sleepers rest in an elevated position, especially if chronic back or neck pain limits you from resorting to alternative positions.
“The optimal position for spine alignment is lying on your back with a pillow under the knees to soften the back,” she says.
“This position preserves the natural contours of your spine. It can also minimise wrinkles.”
SIDE SLEEPERS
Despite being the most popular sleeping position, experts say people could experience different health issues depending on whether they prefer the left or right side.
For pregnant women and people who suffer from acid reflux, experts warn against sleeping on the right side. “This is because the stomach is lower than your oesophagus,” Margo says.
But the right side is recommended for those with heart conditions as it alleviates pressure on the heart due to gravity.
“Women with hourglass figures sleeping on a soft mattress will sink into a banana shape and that will cause a strain on the spine and hips, while men who side-sleep can tend to get more pain in their shoulders as they get older and their muscles weaken,” Margo says, adding that side sleeping, in general, can also cause wrinkles and breast sagging.
A 2022 study by Beijing Forestry University and Chenzhou Vocational Technical College examining how sleep quality is influenced by position found that subjects without sleep disorders who prefer to sleep on their side will sleep better than those who sleep on their back.
The sleep experts recommend side sleepers use a thick pillow for optimum neck and spine alignment and place a pillow between your knees to support the hips and lessen lower back strain.