George Miller confirms next Mad Max film is a Furiosa prequel — without Charlize Theron
Imperator Furiosa may soon be hitting the road again.
Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller's apocalyptic action-epic starring Tom Hardy as the taciturn Max and Charlize Theron as Furiosa, the deadly driver-slash-warrior with a metal arm, a shaved head, and a fierce will to survive. The New York Times has published an extensive oral history of the making of the movie, and although most of the interviews focus on Fury Road (and how it came very close to never getting made at all), Miller did have a few new details to share about what the future of the Mad Max universe might hold.
Miller confirmed to the Times that he's developing a long-rumored standalone movie focusing on Furiosa, but the 44-year-old Theron won't be reprising her role. Instead, the new film is envisioned as a prequel exploring Furiosa's history, and the director is currently looking to cast an actress in her 20s. (He says he considered using CG technology to de-age Theron, but he ultimately decided to recast the role.)
Jasin Boland/Warner Bros.
Miller added that he's hoping to make the Furiosa movie after he wraps his current project, Three Thousand Years of Longing, a drama with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba that's been delayed by the coronavirus.
"So after we finish it, and hopefully everything settles down with the pandemic, we'll see what the world allows us to do with Furiosa," Miller said.
Rumors have long swirled about Miller's Mad Max follow-up, and the director has said before that while writing Fury Road, he developed an extensive backstory for Theron's fierce Imperator. He started writing a screenplay before Fury Road even began filming, and although it remains to be seen exactly where Furiosa's story may go, returning production designer Colin Gibson told the Times that the new movie will be even bigger, featuring "even more" crazy vehicles. Oh what a lovely day indeed.
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