Later this year, Anya Taylor-Joy will take on the role of a young Furiosa, the role first played by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road. Before Taylor-Johnson joined Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, though, she turned to her friend and co-star in The Menu, Nicholas Hoult, who appeared in Fury Road nearly a decade ago.
“These movies are big, colossal beasts, and it’s a type of filmmaking where it’s all stitched together so surgically that you can feel a bit lost in it,” Taylor-Joy told Total Film. When she went to Hoult, he gave her a direct piece of advice: “trust George.”
Director George Miller created the Mad Max franchise in 1979, and his comeback in Fury Road was hailed as one of the best action movies of all-time. To better understand Miller’s world, Taylor-Joy added that she “would watch the first 10 minutes of Fury Road over and over again.”
Taylor-Joy has previously spoken about a 15-minute action sequence in Furiosa that took 78 days to shoot. But according to the actress, the entire scene was pivotal to her character’s evolution.
“George and I would have these big conversations about why this particular set-piece was so long,” said Taylor-Joy. “It’s because you see an accumulation of skills over the course of a battle, and that’s very important for understanding how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her grit. It’s the longest sequence any of us have ever shot.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on Friday, May 15.
