'Furiosa' debuts in Cannes, giving Anya Taylor-Joy a megawatt movie-star moment

CANNES, France (AP) — “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” rolled into the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, returning George Miller's dystopia-on-wheels to the French Riviera festival and lending Anya Taylor-Joy a fairy tale moment on the Cannes red carpet.

Taylor-Joy, with her first film in Cannes, brought classical movie-star glamour to one of the most anticipated premieres of the festival. Wearing a cream-colored custom Dior gown, Taylor-Joy playfully posed for photographers while walking into the Palais des Festivals and offering mock salutes to her director.

The latest “Mad Max” film, starring Chris Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy as a young Furiosa, premiered in Cannes almost exactly nine years after “Mad Max: Fury Road” debuted at the French festival. Miller, who has served on the Cannes jury several times, also premiered his “Three Thousand Years of Longing” in 2022 here.

“To show it in that cinema with about 2,000 people with impeccable sound and screening is a big thing. It’s kind of optimal cinema, really,” Miller said in advance of the premiere. “The moment that they said, ‘OK, we’re happy to show this film here,’ I jumped at it.”

For the 28-year-old Taylor-Joy, “Furiosa” in Cannes was a full circle moment. The first time she came to the festival was to receive a Chopard trophy as an emerging actor in 2017. It was presented by the original Furiosa, Charlize Theron, the star of “Fury Road.”

While this year's Cannes boasts many prominent upcoming premieres, including Francis Ford Coppola's “Megalopolis" and Yorgos Lanthimos' “Kinds of Kindness,” with Emma Stone, the “Furiosa” debut was easily the biggest megawatt Hollywood event of the festival. Among the attendees were jury head Greta Gerwig, Eva Green, Naomi Campbell and Baz Luhrmann.

“Furiosa” opens in North American theaters on May 24.