George Miller Won’t De-Age Charlize Theron for Furiosa Movie, but Will Reunite ‘Fury Road’ Crew

Zack Sharf
·3 min read

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The New York Times has followed this week’s great oral history of “Mad Max: Fury Road” with a small follow-up preview on the movie that will became the Furiosa standalone film. Rumors broke earlier this year Miller was meeting with young actors such as Anya Taylor-Joy to take over the part of Furiosa, played in an iconic performance by Charlize Theron. The director confirms to The Times his Furiosa movie is a prequel to “Fury Road,” and for a time Miller was considering de-aging Theron. The effect would have been similar to Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”

“For the longest time, I thought we could just use CG de-aging on Charlize, but I don’t think we’re nearly there yet,” Miller said. “Despite the valiant attempts on ‘The Irishman,’ I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particularly Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”

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Miller is planning to film the Furiosa movie after he finishes production on his next film, “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. Because “Three Thousand Years” won’t start production until later this year at the earliest, “Mad Max” fans shouldn’t expect the Furiosa prequel movie any time soon. The script has been written for years as Miller penned it during the writing of “Fury Road” to help Theron get into character.

The New York Times reports of the Furiosa script: “Miller sought to answer questions about what the character’s life was like in the idyllic ‘Green Place,’ why she was plucked from the group of woman warriors known as the Vuvalini, and how she became the hardened warrior we meet by the time ‘Fury Road’ begins.”

The Furiosa movie is set to reunite Miller with Oscar-winning production designer Colin Gibson, who also worked on “Fury Road.” Gibson told The Times that 135 vehicles were made for “Fury Road” and that he’s already eyeing more cars for the Furiosa movie. Also set to join the Furiosa movie is cinematographer John Seale, who has been semi-retired since wrapping “Fury Road.”

“I’ve had wonderful opportunities to work after ‘Fury Road,’ as you can imagine, and I’ve passed on all of them,” Seale said. “But on ‘Fury Road,’ I told George, ‘If anybody else rings, I’m retired. If you ring, we’ll have lunch.’ And seven years later, he rang.”

Head over to The New York Times’ website to read more about the upcoming Furiosa movie.

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