George Miller Talks About Why He Chose to Recast FURIOSA Instead of De-Aging
What started with Mad Max in 1979, continued with the incredibly well-received 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road, set in the same post-apocalyptic wasteland and telling the story of the fearless Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron. The filmmaker knew from the start that he wanted to go back and tell the character’s backstory, and Theron wished they had done that first with her in the role. But as it turned out, Fury Road was made and when Miller was in the beginning stages of developing the prequel, he did consider casting Theron and de-aging the character, as others have done in the past few years.
He explained in a recent interview with Empire (via/Film):
"As time went on, I began thinking, 'Oh, maybe we could do de-ageing. Then I watched really masterful filmmakers like Ang Lee and Martin Scorsese, doing 'Gemini Man' and 'The Irishman,' and I saw that it hadn't been licked. All you'd be watching is, 'Look how well the technology works.' It would not have been persuasive."
I support that idea. I don’t mind de-aging for a flashback scene. It was utilized well in Ant-Man and the Wasp. But a whole film would be incredibly distracting, because like Miller suggested, that technology just hasn’t been perfected yet.
As for why Miller chose Anya Taylor-Joy to take over the role in the prequel, the director explained that it actually had a lot to do with his friend Edgar Wright, who was directing Taylor-Joy in Last Night in Soho, who recommended the actress to Miller. "He said, 'If you're thinking of casting her, whatever it is, DO IT!'," recalls Miller.
Taylor-Joy told Empire that, aside from Wright's enthusiasm, she wasn't entirely sure why Miller thought she could do Furiosa justice. Per Miller:
"Ultimately, it's an intuitive response. There's an innately resolute quality in her. She's a very determined and rigorous person. She has a mystique about her. And she'd been trained young as a ballet dancer. Charlize trained young as a ballet dancer. There's a precision to them that was needed."
Once Taylor-Joy got the part, she faced the challenge of becoming Furiosa without mimicking Theron's portrayal. She explained to Empire that she tried to make the character her own instead of copying her predecessor:
"I think that would have really tripped me up if I did. She's been so classy and kind in letting me go and do it. But I feel very lucky that, from the second I read the script, I just knew this person. I felt so fiercely protective over Furiosa, and fiercely protective of her interests."
I think both the filmmaker and the star are taking exactly the right approach to this new film. Fans are seemingly in for a treat. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga hits theaters on May 24, 2024.