Oh, what a lovely day! The trailer for Furiosa has been released (below), giving Mad Max franchise fans their first sense of the long-awaited Fury Road prequel. As expected, the intense footage is nearly wall-to-wall action, explosions, and frantic driving.
Director George Miller‘s next adventure in his post-apocalyptic wasteland stars Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit) as Imperator Furiosa. She stars alongside Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson and Quaden Bayles in supporting roles. The screenplay is by Miller and Nico Lathouris, who also helped pen Fury Road. The film’s full title was also revealed: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which gets the franchise-friendly “Mad Max” in there even though that character is not expected to appear.
The official description: “As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and into the hands of a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. While two Tyrants war for dominance over the Citadel, Furiosa survives many trials as she plots a way back home through the Wasteland.”
The studio also released this motion poster:
Fury Road was a critical and audience hit when it was released in 2015, making nearly $400 million at the box office globally. The film starred Tom Hardy as Mad Max, taking over the role from Mel Gibson who played the character in three previous films. Fury Road also starred Charlize Theron as Furiosa, a one-armed survivor fleeing an evil warlord. The result was widely praised as one of the best action films ever made and a testament to the visual power of practical effects. Yet Miller considered using extensive CG as a way of keeping Theron in the Furiosa role for the prequel.
“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 told The New York Times in 2020. “Despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there’s still an uncanny valley.”
A few months later, Theron told The Hollywood Reporter of not returning to the role: “It’s a tough one to swallow. Listen, I fully respect George, if not more so in the aftermath of making Fury Road with him. He’s a master, and I wish him nothing but the best. Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking, for sure.”
The Furiosa prequel/spin-off was conceived even before Fury Road was made, with Miller and Lathouris writing a script that predated Fury Road filming. Yet the project was held up for years due to a legal battle between Miller and the studio over Fury Road profits. In 2017, Miller’s loan-out company sued Warner Bros. claiming the studio refused to pay an agreed-upon $7 million bonus if Fury Road‘s budget came in under $157 million. Miller contended the film only cost more because of “substantial changes and delays” created by the studio. Two years later, Miller told the press that the “chaos has stabilized” due to the AT&T merger, and he also plans two additional Fury Road sequels that include Mad Max.
Furiosa rolls into theaters May 24, 2024.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
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