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Miller's Fury Road breaks Oscar record

Aust scores record Oscar nod haul

Miller's Fury Road breaks Oscar record

George Miller and his largely Australian, battle-hardened Mad Max: Fury Road crew have made history with a record haul of Oscar nominations.

Joined by Cate Blanchett's best actress nod for her romantic-drama Carol, Australians snared 15 nominations on Thursday.

It topped 2002's bumper year for Australia when Baz Lurhmann, Catherine Martin and Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge, Russell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind and other Aussies combined for 13.

Miller and his wife, editor Margaret Sixel, were asleep in their Sydney home when across the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed its nominees for the 88th Oscars.

It was just before 1am Friday AEDT.

"Margaret's phone woke us up with people texting her," Miller told AAP.

The Academy began the nomination ceremony with the technical categories, so Sixel's name was announced early and friends and colleagues rushed to tell her.

A weary Miller and Sixel celebrated.

"I was just happy for her and then all of the others came through," Miller said.

"I think director and best picture were some of the last to come through and then we tallied it up to 10 nominations."

Just the Alejandro Inarritu-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration The Revenant, with 12, scored more nominations than Mad Max: Fury Road.

The Martian, with seven, and Carol, Bridge of Spies and Spotlight all received six.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens failed to match its box office dominance, missing out on best picture and collecting just five nominations.

It was a tough shoot for the Fury Road crew and stars headed by Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, with most of the action scenes of the fourth chapter of the Mad Max franchise shot in the desert in the African nation of Namibia.

Interior scenes were filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney.

Miller was nominated for two Oscars, for directing and, as producer, for best picture for Mad Max: Fury Road.

It adds to Miller's career Oscar haul of an animated feature win in 2007 for Happy Feet and best picture and adapted screenplay nominations for Babe in 1996 and original screenplay in 1993 for Lorenzo's Oil.

Mexico's Inarritu, who dominated last year's Oscars with best picture and directing wins for Birdman, could repeat that effort this year, although the newsroom drama Spotlight is favourite for best picture with some bookmakers and analysts.

Miller is fourth favourite for director while Mad Max: Fury Road trails Spotlight, The Revenant, The Big Short and The Martian in the early best picture odds.

Miller's longtime producing partner Doug Mitchell shared the best picture nomination.

"Apart from the acting categories, we seemed to have covered the universe," Colin Gibson, who along with fellow Australian Lisa Thompson, picked up production design nominations for their work on Mad Max: Fury Road, told AAP.

Miller coaxed the great Australian cinematographer John Seale out of retirement to film the post-apocalyptic road chase action film and the 73-year-old was rewarded with the fifth Oscar nomination of his career.

Seale won in 1997 for The English Patient and picked up other nominations for Rain Man, Witness and Cold Mountain.

The other Mad Max: Fury Road Australian nominees were sound mixer Ben Osmo; sound editor David White; makeup and hairstyling Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin; and visual effects Andrew Jackson and Dan Oliver.

The Oscar ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 28.

Originally published as Miller's Fury Road breaks Oscar record