Trivia / Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

• Acting for Two: Lachy Hulme replaces Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe in this film, and also portrays Rizzdale Pell, a member of Dementus's gang.
• Approval of God: Though Charlize Theron was disappointed over being unable to play Furiosa again herself, she nonetheless voiced her approval for Anya Taylor-Joy taking her place, calling her "one of the greatest fucking actresses" in an interview.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Chris Hemsworth previously auditioned for Max Rockatansky for Mad Max: Fury Road, but lost the role to Tom Hardy. He ended up getting cast as Dementus for this movie instead.
• Creator's Favorite: On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Chris Hemsworth noted that Furiosa was one of the best experiences of his career.
• Fake Australian: Taking over from the South African Charlize Theron, Anya Taylor-Joy is an American-Argentine-British woman playing the Australian Furiosa.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Anya Taylor-Joy takes over Charlize Theron as Furiosa.
  • Hugh Keays-Byrne passed away in 2020 before the filming for this movie happened. As such, the much younger Lachy Hulme portrays Immortan Joe here.
• Playing Against Type:
  • While Anya Taylor-Joy has had an action role before (Magik in The New Mutants), the increasingly tough-as-nails and nearly bald Furiosa is a whole different beast in her filmography.
  • Chris Hemsworth is best known for playing Action Hero and/or Plucky Comic Relief characters for most of his career. In this film he plays Dementus, who is explicitly confirmed to be an antagonist.
• Refitted for Sequel: Or prequel in this case. Furiosa was planned to have longer, flowing hair in Fury Road before Charlize Theron requested she shave her head bald for the role instead. This movie has Anya Taylor-Joy portray Furiosa with a longer hairstyle for at least part of the film's events before she shaves her head.
• Role Reprise: Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson and John Howard return as, respectively, Rictus Erectus, the Organic Mechanic and the People Eater.
• Saved from Development Hell: George Miller talked about this project as soon as the release of Mad Max: Fury Road back in 2015, but it took him nine years to make and release it. Development had stalled for several years due to backend compensation disputes between Miller and Warner Bros. over Fury Road, which were eventually settled.
• Sequel Gap: Prequel gap, that is. The film is due to release nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road.
• Wag the Director: Lachy Hulme lobbied George Miller to have him be the one to step in as Immortan Joe, as he wanted to honor Hugh Keays-Byrne's portrayal of the character, and also knew he could replicate Hugh's voice and eye acting for Joe. Ultimately, Miller agreed to cast him.
• What Could Have Been:
  • George Miller initially wanted to digitally de-age Charlize Theron so she could reprise her role as Furiosa in this movie. However, he eventually decided that the technology wasn't quite up to the standards he wanted, resulting in Anya Taylor-Joy being cast as the younger Furiosa instead.
  • Anya Taylor-Joy wanted to shave her head like Theron did for Fury Road, but her modeling contracts required her to keep her hair long. Furthermore, George Miller himself felt that Anya's hairstyle was far too iconic to shave it. Ultimately, Furiosa cuts her hair during the latter part of the film.

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