This article contains mild plot spoilers for George Miller’s Furiosa!
Director George Miller is continuing the Mad Max franchise with the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which is set to reach theatres on May 24th – and with that date just over a month away, the film got some promotion during the Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and George Miller took the stage during the Warner Bros. panel. Miller told the eager CinemaCon crowd that Furiosa takes place over 18 years, whereas Fury Road’s story lasted three days. Miller then quipped that if the apocalypse actually happened, Anya would be the one he’d want to hang out with as she has the rigor and commitment.
Speaking about Hemsworth, Miller said he couldn’t think of anyone to play Dementus, and he’d had the script for a long time. Then, he met Hemsworth at a social gathering, and they had a far-reaching conversation that proved to him that he had more dimension than he thought. He also felt his feedback on the screenplay gave him a lot more insight into the character.
Meanwhile, Anya Taylor-Joy says George Miller is a real-deal director, and watching him work was unlike any experience you will ever have. In control of 3 full units, everything on the screen feels hand-painted by Miller. Hemsworth chimed in, saying that, being Australian and having watched the movies repeatedly with his dad, Miller was a god-like figure to him. He takes control of the organized chaos. He said that as wild and out of control as the set would feel, it also felt completely safe, as he’s always had such control.
The CinemaCon crowd also got a 6-minute sneak peek at the film, taking them through its arc. We get a lot more insight into Furiosa’s mother, a heroine in her own right, who fought Dementus’s men on an odyssey to save her, only to be killed, making Furiosa swear revenge. Immortan Joe raised her, and that’s how she became a warrior. Eventually, she encounters Tom Burke’s character, whom she collaborates with, and becomes her mentor. He paints his head black like she does in Fury Road. He seems more heroic and looks A LOT like Mel Gibson/ Mad Max (but is not). He’s third-billed, so it’s a central character we haven’t really seen developed yet.
Directed by Miller from a screenplay he wrote with Nico Lathouris, Furiosa has the following synopsis: As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.
The title character Furiosa is played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), taking over from Fury Road‘s Charlize Theron. Lachy Hulme (Offspring) pulls double duty, playing both Fury Road villain Immortan Joe (taking over from the late Hugh Keays-Byrne) and a character called Rizzdale Pell, who is “one of the gang members affiliated with the warlord Dementus.” We’ve heard Dementus is “a pretty horrible individual, and he’s played by Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Also in the cast are Tom Burke (C.B. Strike) and Quaden Bayles (Three Thousand Years of Longing), with Alyla Browne (The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) as a younger Furiosa. Nathan Jones and Angus Sampson are said to reprise their Fury Road roles of Rictus Erectus and The Organic Mechanic.
Miller hasn’t revealed whether or not Mad Max himself will be appearing in the movie, he has only teased that, “Max is lurking there in the background.” If you’re anxious to see more Mad Max, there’s some good news: Miller has confirmed that he has another Mad Max story written, which would presumably be the Mad Max: The Wasteland story that he has referenced here and there ever since Fury Road was released. Now that Furiosa is making its way out into the world, here’s hoping that Miller or a protégé (Miller has said he has three different directors in mind that he would like to see make movies set in the world of his franchise) will get Mad Max: The Wasteland into production sooner than later.
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