Mel Gibson credits his Mad Max movies with spawning Billy Idol and Duran Duran's road warrior 1980s look.

He insists the low-budget George Miller films inspired pop videos and films.

The actor/director tells the Los Angeles Times, "Look at all the films that came from it, that took from it. Waterworld was Road Warrior on water and there have been a dozen others.

"And look at the music in the 1980s, Billy Idol and Duran Duran, they all took this look... The Mohawks, the black leather and studs, all the bondage stuff."

Gibson still smiles when he recalls how basic the set was: "I lived in a miner's cottage while we were making it. It was made of cement. It had a bedroom and a kitchen and an outside bathroom. We were in the middle of Broken Hill and it's just bleak desert.

"George managed to make it look mythic. It was real low-tech. We made it for dozens and dozens of dollars."