George Miller Explained Why The Role Of ‘Furiosa’ Went To Anya Taylor-Joy Instead Of Charlize Theron
Anya Taylor-Joy quickly went from one sandy Dune to another sandy dune as she is set to star in the highly-anticipated Mad Max prequel, Furiosa. The film will tell the origin story of the titular warrior before she meets Max, all while showcasing Anya Taylor-Joy’s impressive car stunts. Thankfully she got her permit.
While Taylor-Joy is excited to joy-ride through the dystopian wasteland, many fans were disappointed that Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in the 2015 film, would not reprise her role in the prequel. Creator George Miller explains that, in a perfect world, he would have preferred to make Furiosa before Mad Max: Fury Road so that Theron could portray the heroine in both films.
Obviously, that didn’t happen, and when Miller returned to work on Furiosa, he admits he toyed with the idea of using de-aging technology, but ultimately decided against it. He told Empire Magazine, “It definitely would have been Charlize [had Furiosa been filmed before Fury Road]. I began thinking, ‘Oh, maybe we could do de-aging.’ Then I watched really masterful filmmakers like Ang Lee and Martin Scorsese, doing Gemini Man and The Irishman, and I saw that it hadn’t been licked,” Miller said, adding that it would have been a distraction. “All you’d be watching is, ‘Look how well the technology works?’ It would not have been persuasive. ” Instead, they decided to use CGI to give Furiosa her iconic shaved head.
Miller said that similarities between the two actresses helped Taylor-Joy get the part. “There’s an innately resolute quality in [Taylor-Joy]. She’s a very determined and rigorous person. She has a mystique about her. And she’d been trained young as a ballet dancer. Charlize trained young as a ballet dancer. There’s a precision to them that was needed,” he recalled. Luckily, ballerinas are having a bit of a moment right now.
Even though Theron did not return to reprise her role, Taylor-Joy has nothing but praise for the actress. “She’s been so classy and kind in letting me go and do it,” Taylor-Joy said of Theron. Meanwhile, Charlize is celebrating her “marriage” to Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez. She’s too busy for car stunts, but maybe we can hold out hope for a little cameo.
Furiosa will hit theaters on May 24th.