When it comes to me and the Mad Max: Fury Road director, the similarities start and end with us both being called George. And I won’t lie, I’m happy with that. Fury Road was one of the best films of 2015 with its beautiful art style and high-octane action, making for a triumphant return to the Mad Max franchise. And thankfully, we are heading back into it with yet another star-studded cast.
A prequel to the 2015 film, George Miller is set to direct and cowrite (alongside Nico Lathouris) Furiosa, an origin story for the badass heroine played by Charlize Theron in a scene-stealing performance. But rather than Theron making a return as the character, Anya Taylor-Joy is set to take up the mantel of a younger Furiosa and will star alongside Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen.
This has been a project years in the making, with a second screenplay about the life of Imperator Furiosa being written before Fury Road even started production which. As told by Miller in an interview with The New York Times, this “was purely a way of helping Charlize and explaining it to ourselves”. Charlize certainly benefitted as her performance was a highlight of the film, which makes the decision to recast her less than welcome, a sentiment the actress more than agrees with us on.
When interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, Theron said the decision to recast was “a tough one to swallow” and “a little heartbreaking,” but added that she was “so grateful” to play Furiosa and that “If [George] feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner”. The decision to recast could be seen as echoing both sexism and ageism in Hollywood, with male actors like Liam Neeson staying in the action genre well into his 60s whereas female actors like the 40-year-old Theron are recast for 20-year-olds despite having leading roles in physically intensive films like Atomic Blond and The Old Guard. In the same interview with The New York Times, Miller did say that “For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-ageing on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet” which shows an attempt at retaining the actor but still tells us that they weren’t interested in Theron as she is. It’s a frustrating decision to say the least, but due to the little information about Furiosa we have, hopefully, that choice will make more sense soon.
It is more than safe to say that Anya Taylor-Joy is stepping into big shoes with this role, but despite her only being 24, she already has an extremely impressive filmography behind her. Currently set to star in the Netflix Original series The Queen’s Gambit, Taylor-Joy also played the lead in Emma as well as roles in future films like Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho and Robert Eggers’ The Northman (the pair previously worked together on The Witch). She is absolutely brimming with talent so while I am sad to not see Charlize in the role, I cannot wait to see what she brings to the table.
Set to star alongside Taylor-Joy is the part-time god of thunder Chris Hemsworth as well as Emmy award winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who you might know as Black Manta in James Wan’s Aquaman. Hemsworth obviously needs no introduction thanks to the white gaze of Hollywood, but Abdul-Mateen II shouldn’t be ignored and is in fact a tour de force of acting. He recently won an Emmy for his role in the HBO hit show Watchmen and has just starred in the new Netflix Original The Trial of the Chicago 7. He is also set to have a leading role in the upcoming Matrix 4 alongside Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss.
With talent bursting at the seams both in front and behind the camera, Furiosa looks to be an absolute hit. But with no release date in sight, it looks like a long (fury) road ahead…
Words by George Bell
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