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My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land.

– The Feral Kid (in adulthood)

The Feral Kid is a feral child who appears in Mad Max 2. He is portrayed by Emil Minty. His voice as an old man is played by Harold Baigent.

Origin

Feral Kid's backstory was coined by Emil Minty (with help of his dad) as part of the auditioning process.[1][2]

We were asked to come up with a story on how we thought we became The Feral Kid out in this Wasteland and, you know, my short story was we were flying with my parents in a plane. Landed, no fuel, dad went to find fuel (and) never came back. Mum went to find dad, never came back and I was left to fend for myself and ... well that's how it all began!

– Emil Minty

This idea was particularly entertained by Terry Hayes, who wanted to include a whole tribe of feral children in Mad Max 2. Due to budget constraints, the tribe was reduced to just one child - the Feral Kid. The same concept later became inspiration for The Lost Tribe of children in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Biography

The Feral Kid was taken in by Pappagallo's tribe. He is apparently 9 or 10 years old during the events of the film, hardly old enough to remember the collapse of civilization but deeply affected by it. He has grown up communicating only by bestial noises. The Kid is fascinated by the newcomer Max Rockatansky, who gives him a small wind-up music box scavenged from the road. Having lost his own son in the previous film, Max remains aloof.

The Kid proves his mettle against Lord Humungus' gang by using a sharpened metal boomerang to kill the Golden Youth, sending Wez into a murderous rage. The Kid uses a network of animal burrows to enter and exit the compound at will, and after killing the Golden Youth he re-enters the fort where Max has just finished freeing himself from a set of hand-cuffs and is sitting bemused whilst the settlers exchange accusations, and debate absurd options for escaping the wrath of Humungus. For a brief moment Max takes kindly to the Kid, and gives him the music box. The Kid is overjoyed, and seemingly decides to adopt Max immediately.

The Kid escorts Max through the camp perimeter of Humungus and his Dogs of War as he sneaks out to of the compound on his mission to bring back the Mack truck. He mimics animal howls to distract a guard when Max is almost discovered.

When Max attempts to later leave the compound in the interceptor, having secured his fuel, the Kid attempts to sneak into the vehicle to go with him. This is a pretty poignant scene, but Max rejects the Kid, which proves wise following the destruction of the interceptor shortly afterward.

Not to be denied, the Kid later overcomes all efforts to restrain him, and leaps aboard the Mack as Max drives it out of the compound to begin the fateful chase. At some points he thoroughly enjoys the ensuing battle, but is clearly terrified when it comes down to him to retrieve the final shotgun cartridge from the front end of the speeding Mack. He is knocked out when the vehicle finally rolls, but Max carries him from the wreck and he survives.

At the very end of the film, we see him on the bus with the surviving villagers, gazing out the window at Max standing alone in the distance. The narrator informs us that he was that child, and that he relates the history so that the Road Warrior, whoever he was, would be remembered for saving them all, and that someday he, this child and now adult narrator, became the leader of the villagers, who would go on to re-establish some form of civilization, 'The Great Northern Tribe.'

Appearance

Originally, the Feral Kid was supposed to have yellow eyes, signifying his feral nature. The colour of his eyes was also a plot device revealing that the narrator of the story is in fact the Feral Kid himself, as seen in the original script[3]:

180.   INT. SCHOOL BUS.  DUSK.

                        The FERAL KID, sitting in the back of the bus, turns to
			face us.  His bright yellow eyes stare directly into
			camera...
181.  THE NARRATOR'S FACE.

			For the first time we see the Narrator's eyes.  They are
			bright yellow.

The colour of Feral Kid's eyes was changed from yellow to one blue and the other green. Emil Minty recalls that wearing contact lenses on the dusty set caused his eyes to become sore.[4]

Feral Kid wears a fur vest and briefs with a tail attached. He also wears a belt for his metal boomerang, a gauntlet, and shoes made of fur as well. The gauntlet looks to be a welding glove with chain links on the palm side to allow the Feral Kid to safely catch his metal boomerang.

His hair has a white shock-streak, much like Max's. This is a continuation of the mallen-streak, or shock-streak theme in the series of films, where it symbolises an unusual inter-twined fate. In the first movie, it is the Toecutter whose hair bares the white streak of fate. In reality, most of the Kid's hair was actually extensions.

Abilities

Feral Kid is an adept survivor, athletic gymnast, and a vicious warrior. Armed with a razor-sharp boomerang, which he can throw with astonishing range and accuracy, and possessing both effective cover and infiltrating skills, he is an under-estimated asset to the stronghold.

Trivia

  • Emil Minty, the actor playing the Feral Kid found a box of metal washers and put them on a string. He gave this necklace to actress Arkie Whiteley playing the Lusty Girl (The Gyro Captain's girl.) She was wearing that necklace in the movie.[5]
  • Minty had a really bad flu on set, almost bordering on pneumonia.
  • He also owns the boomerang he used on set, he keeps it in his office.
  • The backflip done by Feral Kid was actually performed by a local Broken Hill gymnast Melissa Grillett. That was the only stunt not performed by Emil Minty.
  • Minty's sister put him in the acting agency, he starred in one commercial before Mad Max 2.
  • In the scene where Max is told he couldn't even drive a wheelchair, Mel told Minty to growl at the person who said that to Max. After the scene was filmed, Mel asked Minty why he didn't growl, and Emil replied "Because George told me not to".
  • Minty was picked on in school after his role in Mad Max 2, but he recalls is as normal experience that any kid in school has to go through in one way or another.
  • "Road to Alice" was the last acting role for Emil Minty. Emil has been the owner of a jewelry store for 24 years now.

References

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