The Big Picture

Get ready to return to the Wastelands with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, George Miller’s epic prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.
Furiosa’s origin story follows her mission to return home, facing off against a new warlord and bringing back more iconic characters like Immortan Joe.
Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth discuss the challenges and excitement of filming intense sequences in the movie, while also teasing upcoming projects.

It’s time to strap in. George Miller’s prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is taking theaters back to the Wastelands. It’s been nearly a decade since Mad Max: Fury Road rebooted the franchise with epic set pieces and new characters, and fans are ready for another lovely day! To get ready for its release, Collider’s Steve Weintraub sat down with stars Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays the titular role in the movie, and Chris Hemsworth to talk about the moviemaking magic that sets us up 45 years post-society’s collapse.

Furiosa is the origin story of a young girl stolen from the Green Place by the warlord and self-proclaimed ruler of the Wasteland, Dr. Dementus (Hemsworth). Taylor-Joy stars as the central focus of this apocalyptic odyssey in the role of Furiosa, previously played by Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road), whose sole mission is to return home and to her family where she was taken from — at all costs. We’re getting more of the despicable Immortan Joe, played in this film by Lachy Hulme (The Matrix Revolutions), more War Boys, and all-new characters played by Tom Burke (Only God Forgives), Charlee Fraser (Anyone But You), and more.

Check out the full interview in the video above or in the transcript below to find out why Miller’s movies make filmmakers and actors feel like audience members again. Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth also reflect on the most challenging sequences to film while on set in Australia and discuss upcoming projects like Scott Derrickson’s (The Black Phone) sci-fi romance, The Gorge, and Sam Hargrave’s threequel, Extraction 3.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max.Release Date May 24, 2024 Director George Miller Writers George Miller , Nick Lathouris Studio(s) Village Roadshow Pictures , Kennedy Miller Mitchell Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Sequel(s) Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller’s ‘Furiosa’ Allows the Stars to Be Audience Members Again
“I was completely immersed.”

COLLIDER: As actors, I’m sure you know the process. You know the secrets of how a movie is made. How do you guys watch movies nowadays? Can you enjoy it as a movie or do you sort of know too many of the secrets of movie-making now?

ANYA TAYLOR-JOY: It really depends, no?

CHRIS HEMSWORTH: Yeah. We both had this discussion that, I think, when we saw Fury Road, having been in the industry, you do kind of know the secrets. You’ve seen behind the curtain. Fury Road was the first time that I was completely immersed, and I felt like an audience member again. You had that same experience, right?

TAYLOR-JOY: Completely. Actually, even though these are two drastically different films, I remember getting to Australia and watching the first 10 minutes of Fury Road over and over and over again to understand the filmmaking and being like, “Okay, I can see that’s another unit. Right, this is here, this is here…” Just kind of to prepare. But yeah, I think you’re always hoping to be transported. You’re a movie-lover. You want to be able to sit down and just go, “Wow, that’s awesome.”

When I speak to a lot of directors, they tell me they see, you know what I mean? “Would I do it that way? Would I have done what shot?”

HEMSWORTH: I heard, also, I think Soderbergh and a few people said they didn’t know where the stitches were, and so on, in Fury Road, and he does it again in this film, but in a different way. He didn’t want it to be a repetition of that. There are a lot more one long continuous takes as opposed to the spliced-up, sharper, close-up edit. So again, to be able to kind of fabricate something that has such a beautiful continuity but feels unique again is George Miller.

Honestly, I was blown away watching. He’s such an auteur in terms of the way he shoots action. It’s really unbelievable.

This ‘Furiosa’ Scene Took 78 Days to Film
“Day 35, you’re like, ‘Where am I?'”

So, you guys see the shooting schedule. What day do you have circled in terms of, “Oh my god, I can’t wait to film this, and what day is circled in terms of, “How the F are we gonna film this?”

TAYLOR-JOY: I think the only one that I was not like, “How are we going to do it,” just like, “Wow, that’s going to be a thing,” was the stowaway sequence. We shot that for 78 days, and so day 35 you’re like, “Where am I?” Like, I remember, as a circled day, it was the day that I finally got to get behind the cowcatcher and I could stop being under the truck or on the side of the truck. I was like, “I’ve made it to standing. Yes!” [Laughs]

HEMSWORTH: I think the scene at the very end, by the time we finally come together. There’s probably a five or six-page back-and-forth dialogue scene. I thought equally, “How the hell are we gonna do that,” as much as, “Oh, I’m excited about that.” We had to really stick that moment. It was months of rehearsal by the time we got there, and many discussions, and the scene took on many different shapes in the lead-up, even while shooting for three or four days. So, it was quite satisfying.

Why Anya Taylor-Joy Joined Scott Derrickson’s ‘The Gorge’

Image via Focus Features

You know that I’m a huge fan of the Extraction movies, so I would really like an update on Extraction 3. Specifically, when do you start filming? Also, I’m a big fan of Scott Derrickson and I know you just worked with him on The Gorge. What can you tease people about it? What made you say, “I want to do this?”

TAYLOR-JOY: Oh, I was really excited to work with Miles [Teller]. We’re all good friends, but we’ve been wanting to work together for a really long time. And I think I was intrigued by the fact that it was semi genre-less in the sense that it was both a love story and an action movie. So, I was excited about that.

HEMSWORTH: Extraction, we’re in the middle of sort of writing, prepping, getting it ready. I don’t know when we’re gonna start, but it’s in the works.

TAYLOR-JOY: By the way, we were on set and we were talking about whatever massive set piece we’ve just done, and he goes, “Yeah, I remember this one time when I was on top of a train, and this helicopter…” And I was like, “What are you talking about? This is madness.” [Laughs]

9:12 Related Idris Elba Will Have “Unfinished Business” With Chris Hemsworth in Potential ‘Extraction 3’ Elba starred opposite Hemsworth in Netflix’s 2023 action hit.

I don’t know if he told you, but on that film, Sam Hargrave was basically blown off the train. He was the camera operator and if he had not been strapped in, that would have been game over.

HEMSWORTH: Yeah, he was also strapped to the front of the car that crashed into another car.

TAYLOR-JOY: Someone give this man a medal. Where is he?

HEMSWORTH: And his leg got caught in between the wheel hub thing. Miraculously, he didn’t get his leg smashed. Anyway, yeah. There’s a few of those stories. [Laughs]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga races into theaters on May 24. Check out the link below for showtimes.

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