Furiosa: George Miller Explains Casting Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga director George Miller reveals what movie inspired him to cast Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role and how Chris Hemsworth won him over during an interview.

“Well, they are both absolutely superb,” Miller said to ScreenRant during the iconic director’s career retrospective event at CinemaCon 2024. “Anya is — Edgar Wright showed me Last Night in Soho just before it was released. I saw Anya in that, and I said, ‘She’d be good for [the role].’ and he said, ‘Do it, do it.’ Without me even telling him what it was, he said, ‘Do it. She’s great. She’s great.’ There’s something about her, it’s almost difficult to put it into words. There’s something mystical about her, and yet there’s an accessibility.”

Miller continued by explaining what Taylor-Joy had in common with Charlize Theron, who originated the adult Furiosa in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. “I learned that she was somebody who is very, very disciplined, and she’s very young. She was a ballet dancer, Charlize was a ballet dancer. I worked on Happy Feet with a lot of brilliant dancers, and I understand the physical discipline, as well as the emotional discipline they have. So, all of that led to Anya being Furiosa.”

Turning his attention to Hemsworth, who plays the main antagonist Warlord Dementus, Miller recalls how the Thor star impressed him with his take on the psychotic wasteland tyrant. “In terms of Chris, I knew the character, I never thought of Chris until we met and we talked,” Miller said. “I realized he was somebody with a lot more [ideas] than I initially thought of him…So, I thought, ‘Well, I can’t wait to see [what he does].’ He [resonated] really well with the material, so I thought, ‘Let’s just see what he can do with it.'”

What is Furiosa about?

Set 15 years before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa stars Anya Taylor-Joy in a tale that sees the future war captain caught in the middle of a battle between two warring tyrants in the Wasteland. The movie stars Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth alongside Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Nathan Jones, and Angus Simpson. Miller directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters on May 24.