Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth has described starring in the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa, the “best experience” of his career. Speaking with GQ, Hemsworth heaped praise on filmmaking icon George Miller, who Hemsworth describes as “masterful,” with the actor feeling reignited after just a short while working under the Oscar winning director.
“I came into that film exhausted. I thought, ‘How am I going to get through this?’ Week one of rehearsals with [Miller], all of a sudden it was this reigniting of my creative energy.”
Furiosa will find Hemsworth starring as the villain of the piece, a bearded warlord named Dementus (or possible even more brilliantly Dr. Dementus), with the Thor: Love and Thunder star calling the movie the one he is “most proud of” so far.
“[Furiosa is] by far the best experience of my career, and something I feel the most proud of. It made me think, the work isn’t what’s exhausting, it’s what kind of work it is, and how invested I am in it and if it is challenging in the right ways.”
While he is best known for his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hemsworth has recently suggested that his time in the major franchise may be over, and hopes that his performance in Furiosa will adhere him to other prominent filmmakers similar to George Miller.
“I’m on the hunt for more George Millers. Or more of George Miller. If he’ll have me.”
Furiosa Will Follow Anya Taylor-Joy as Imperator Furiosa
Alongside Chris Hemsworth, Furiosa will star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Northman, The Super Mario Bros. Movie) as a younger version of Imperator Furiosa, the character introduced in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road and played by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron.
“As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus,” the official synopsis for Furiosa reads. “Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.”
Directed by George Miller from a screenplay he co-wrote with Nico Lathouris, Furiosa promises to be a very different beast to its predecessor. “All I can say about my excitement about doing it is that it’s definitely exciting, because even though it’s certainly of that world of Fury Road, it’s also got a lot of the differences we’ve been talking about,” Miller revealed. “Again, it’s uniquely familiar. And probably the biggest difference is the timespan. Fury Road happened over three days and two nights and this one happens over 15 years. So, it’s a saga.”
Starring Tom Burke, Nathan Jones, Angus Sampson, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, and Lachy Hulme alongside Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy, Furiosa is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on 24 May 2024 by Warner Bros. Pictures.
