Cast members Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth pose on the red carpet as they leave after the screening of the film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” out of competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 15, 2024.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Director George Miller needed a fresh set of A-list actors to star in the latest installment of the “Mad Max” franchise, but he knew they would need to bring something special to the iconic roles.
That meant recasting the titular role of the officer turned rebel, Furiosa, who was portrayed by Oscar-winning actor Charlize Theron in 2015 film “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
His new film, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” needed a younger version of Furiosa.
“Well, first was to cast Anya because she [had] big shoes to fill with Charlize,” Miller told Reuters, referring to “The Queen’s Gambit” actor Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays a young Furiosa in the 2024 movie produced by Warner Bros Pictures.
“Too much time had passed to work with Charlize or de-age, which is a technology that doesn’t really work well enough, it’s not convincing enough. So, I didn’t know who could play it,” he added.
However, his mind was made up after watching Taylor-Joy’s performance in the psychological horror film “Midnight in Soho.”
“She’s someone who’s got tremendous discipline in her work. Very rigorous. She’s got a lot of skills physically [and is] athletic. She was a dancer like Charlize,” Miller said.
“The youngest of a big family [riding] motorbikes when she was just little, she just had all of that and was happy to take it on,” he continued.
In addition to Taylor-Joy, the film also stars Chris Hemsworth as Warlord Dementus and takes place 15 to 20 years before the events of “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
In the post-apocalyptic world, Furiosa is kidnapped from her home, the Green Place, by a gang of bikers led by Dementus.
She must fight for survival as the power-hungry Dementus clashes with The Immortan Joe, who was the antagonist from “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
