She recorded two songs as tie-ins: the power ballad ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)’ and ‘One of the Living’. We hear Turner before we see her on screen. She’d appeared in Ken Russell’s 1975 rock opera, Tommy, as the Acid Queen, but such a part was firmly in her wheelhouse and nowhere near as demanding as co-headlining a blockbuster. Nevertheless, it was certainly rare enough for such a pivotal role, an action antiheroine, to be offered to a 40-something African American woman with little acting experience. Pop stars crossing over to the movies was nothing new and there was a boom occurring on this front in the 1980s ( David Bowie in Labyrinth, Cher’s Oscar-winning turn for Moonstruck). Miller had watched an interview on British television and was captivated by her positive image and charisma. Not only did he ask her to portray Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’s big bad, Aunty Entity, but he and co-writer Terry Hayes had written the part specifically for Turner. George Miller, director of the box office-smashing, post-apocalyptic Mad Max films, was concluding the saga and auditioned Turner to play the villain. Credit: AlamyĪnother tantalising offer had come in, anyway. Tina Turner’s Hollywood break coincided with a remarkable return to success in the music world. It was like reliving her troubled life with ex-husband and ex-music partner Ike Turner all over again, she explained. One of the first to drop her a line was Steven Spielberg, who asked if she’d take the lead in his forthcoming adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple. The former R&B singer had reinvented herself as the queen of rock and roll, and the triumphant revival in her fortunes led to Hollywood calling.
Her comeback album, ‘ Private Dancer‘, dropped in May and was a gigantic commercial success – a triple-Grammy winner selling 10 million copies worldwide.
In 1984, Tina Turner was basking in the glow of a stunning resurgence.
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