George Miller’s action film sweeps up the technical awards at the Academy Awards, smashing the Australian record of three Oscars for The Piano in 1993

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The triumphs of Mad Max: Fury Road mean Australia has achieved a record haul of Oscars. The film has swept up awards for best costume design, production design, makeup and hairstyling, editing, sound editing and sound mixing.

Oscars 2016 live: Mad Max takes the lead in the Academy Awards race Read more

The film by Australian director-producer George Miller dominated the first half of the ceremony, picking up six of the ten categories it has been nominated in.

The film’s sound editors Mark Mangini and David White and sound mixers Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo picked up Oscars for their categories. “I’m proud to represent all of my Aussie colleagues,” a boisterous White said, thrusting his Oscar on stage.

“Us Mad Maxes are doing OK tonight,” editor Margaret Sixel and who is married to Miller, said on stage when she picked up best editing.



Earlier in the ceremony on Sunday night, Mad Max: Fury Road’s Australian makeup and hairstyling team of Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin, Australian production designers Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson and English costume designer Jenny Beavan were victorious for their work.

“You can pop the corks at home – we’re bringing back gold,” Vanderwalt said on stage at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.



While announcing best documentary short, American comedian Louis CK opened the envelope and jokingly announced “Mad Max: Fury Road”, in reference to the film’s success at the award ceremony so far.

Miller, himself, missed out on the directing Oscar with The Revenant’s Alejandro González Iñárritu winning his second consecutive Academy Award, as did veteran Australian cinematographer John Seale who also missed out to competition from The Revenant in the form of winner Emmanuel Lubezki.

In scooping up the technical award categories at the Academy Awards, the film smashes the Australian record of three Oscars for The Piano in 1993.