In an interview with the Australian magazine Cinema Papers in the early 1990s, director
George Miller revealed that the shoot had been extremely difficult, because he was initially unfamiliar with Hollywood-style communication. In a meeting to discuss ways to reduce the budget, Miller volunteered to give up his trailer because he was always needed on the set and had no time to use it. The studio concluded that he was a pushover, so they began to interfere with his production requests. If he asked for fifty extras, the studio would provide a dozen. If he asked for two cameras, they would provide one. Miller decided to fight fire with fire, and refused to shoot each scene until his production demands were met. The studio responded by looking for a new director, but were prevented by
Jack Nicholson, who supported Miller and vowed to walk off the production if he was replaced.