Furiosa: 30 lines, 15 minutes of action… What you need to know about the new Mad Max movie with Anya Taylor-Joy

Furiosa is coming to the cinema! Almost ten years after Fury Road, the iconic Mad Max saga is being rebooted by George Miller in a new over-the-top adventure centered around the iconic Emperor character played by Charlize Theron.

For the prequel, Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the role (as does Alila Brown) to tell the story of the heroine’s youth in a decadent world. Everything changes when he is taken away from the green earth and captured by a horde of bikers, led by the magnificent Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth.

As she tries to survive the desolation, the immortal Joe, and find her way home, Furiosa has only one obsession: revenge. He will only rely on himself and the resources he is gradually acquiring.

Our podcast recap on ‘Furiosa’

Is “Furiosa” stronger than “Furry Road”?

During the film’s press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, director George Miller emphasized the idea that every Mad Max should be different. and add: “If you just repeat what you’ve done, you’ll never want to make a movie again!”

“What was interesting about this story was the stark difference between a film like Fury Road, where you’re telling a story while you’re always moving and seeing what you can tell around the characters, over 3 days and 2 nights. Scenes take place almost in real time, while this is about a saga that unfolds over 18 years and seeing someone as a child and growing up to become a legendary warrior.“

Indeed, Fury Road ends a few days before the chase, while Furiosa is an epic that repeats fifteen years, divided into 5 chapters, from the life of the heroine presented in Fury Road.

Only 30 lines for Anya Taylor-Joy!

In an interview with the New York Times, Anna Taylor-Joy said she spent “months” on set without speaking: “I’ve never been more alone than I was on this movie. I don’t want to go too far, but everything I thought was easy was difficult.

The economy of words is part of George Miller’s screenwriting decisions, which relied on the magnetism of the imperious Anna Taylor-Joy in Furiosa’s performance. The actor has only thirty lines in the film!

“She had a very, very strict idea of ​​what Furiosa’s war face looked like, and that just allowed me to see a lot of movies.”he explained “It was really ‘close your mouth, no emotion, speak with your eyes.’

But rest assured, when Furiosa speaks, it’s not for nothing, and the actress struggled to give her character a moment of rage and explosion in the film.

No license for Anya Taylor-Joy

Yes, Anya Taylor-Joy does not have a driver’s license. Still, this did not prevent him from being an excellent driver and performing many stunts of his own. Meet producer Doug Mitchell, a long-time collaborator at the Cannes Film Festival, who told us how the actor invested 100%:

“Anna is a very professional actress in the sense that she works very hard, maybe too much. We also have the advantage of working properly. There were about five coaches for driving motorcycles and cars. She could drive a car, she just doesn’t. She has a license.

As he says, he doesn’t know how to parallel park, but look at the war queue or look at Vazhkatsi. He can do it. And most importantly, he does not shy away from strenuous exercise. He had climbing coaches, your diet, all of that. And he gets it. He’s a very, very professional person, but also lovely.”

A fake nose for Chris Hemsworth in a completely different role

If Anya Taylor-Joy is the heroine of Furiosa, there is another star of the film who is a pleasant surprise of the adventure. Chris Hemsworth, in the skin of Dementus, a completely insane villain, devotes himself wholeheartedly to this role, which he leads and which finally allows him to break away from his Marvel image.

Old Thor is transformed with a prosthetic nose and an unusual costume that makes him the leader of a biker gang, somewhere between a bloody guru and a rock band leader. What could be the best role for an Australian actor? Either way, it was a great experience for Chris Hemsworth, as he told us:

“I like the chaos of my character. It was quite liberating, as opposed to having certain demands or expectations of the superhero that I love to play, but that respects the rules. I allowed myself more with Dementus, and he was incredibly flawed, complex and contradictory.

He was crazy and scary at one point, and then showed moments of humanity and vulnerability at other times. I loved playing this. I felt a release that I had never experienced before, and I was truly grateful for that.”

15-minute action scene!

2 and a half months of shooting and 200 stuntmen for one of the most impressive scenes of the film. Furiosa has 15 minutes of action sequences, as producer Doug Mitchell told us:

“We have 260 stuntmen working on stunts that make up 15 minutes of the film. But it took us 80 days to shoot it. And in between that was bad weather in Australia. We had the worst weather we’ve ever had in our lives and then with Covid, people He got sick and we had to quarantine, in my opinion the risks were very, very high.

The challenges have been great, but our commitment is to make sure that it is absolutely and meticulously planned and that there are enough safety measures in place to ensure that no one gets hurt.”

The sequence, which features Anya Taylor-Joy and Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack’s quiet strength, a mentor of sorts to help him build his legend, was a long process for the actor, who spoke extensively with George Miller.

“George and I had a big conversation about why that scene was so long.”he explained The whole movie, “It shows the build-up of skills over the course of the fight, and it’s really important to understand how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her courage. It’s the longest sequence we’ve ever shot. ‘Stairway To Nowhere’ to celebrate the wine!”

Comments collected by Megan Choquet on May 15 in Cannes.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is currently in theaters.