George Miller Confirms His Next MAD MAX Film Will Focus on a Young Furiosa without Charlize Theron
The next film we see from George Miller that is set in the world of Mad Max will give us a prequel story for Furiosa. We’ve heard reports that this was the direction the next film would take, and now Miller has confirmed it. He also confirmed that Charlize Theron will not be playing the character. He will be casting a new actress to take on the character. Both Jodie Comer (The Killing) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The New Mutants, Glass) have been rumored to be up for the role.
Miller explained that he wrote the script for the prequel film so that Theron and the other characters would have knowledge of their backstories. “It was purely a way of helping Charlize and explaining it to ourselves.”
Miller originally hoped to bring Theron back to reprise the role, by using de-aging technology that has become prevalent in Hollywood, but in the end, he decided against it because he doesn’t feel the technology is there yet to do it properly.
“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. Despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there’s still an uncanny valley. Everyone is on the verge of solving it, particular Japanese video-game designers, but there’s still a pretty wide valley, I believe.”
I think Marvel has done a solid job with de-aging their actors, but I do understand Miller’s concern. When previously talking about Furiosa, Miller hinted that the backstory is one he would like to explore:
"Yeah, she’s a pretty compelling character so it would be great to tell her story. Her backstory is really interesting. We only allude to it in this movie because this movie is on the run; people don’t have much time for recreational talk. But you pick up, you have a sense of her having gone through stuff. That’s what the film is trying to do. You’re trying to put a lot of iceberg under the tip, I like saying. One of the things that’s really gratifying, people are reading the film more than just the surface — the events of the movie, and just picking up a lot of stuff underneath it, which is very deliberate......So in many ways, the audience is picking up a lot about Furiosa — or enough to intrigue. And she’s got an interesting story."
Miller is expected to start production on the film as soon as he's done filming his current project, Three Thousand Years of Longing. He hopes that will be in 2021.
Theron also took to Twitter to share some memories from her time on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road: