Furiosa Star Anya Taylor-Joy Wasn't Prepared For How Tough The Shoot Would Be
The making of "Mad Max: Fury Road" is the stuff of legend, as chronicled in Kyle Buchanan's wildly entertaining book, "Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road." That being the case, it's only to be expected that the cast and crew of the new prequel film, "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," would have some tall tales of their own to regale about what went into the making of director George Miller's return to the Wasteland. Doubly so for star Anya Taylor-Joy, who follows in Charlize Theron's footsteps by bringing the titular battle-hardened, shaved-headed, metal-armed, stoic post-apocalyptic warrior to life as a young woman in the movie.
Contrary to the nature of the "Mad Max" universe (a place where "everything hurts," as Theron's Furiosa memorably puts it in "Fury Road"), Miller himself is renowned for running safe sets and has never been accused of abusing his actors or otherwise mistreating the members of his crews. The director learned all about the challenges of filmmaking when shooting the original "Mad Max" at the start of his career in the late '70s. Heeding the advice of another Australian filmmaking legend, Peter Weir, Miller has since taken it upon himself to streamline the process as much as possible. That includes storyboarding everything in "Fury Road" and "Furiosa" to a "T" ahead of production so that, by the time the cameras start rolling, everyone knows exactly where to go and what to do to get the job done.
Even so, all one has to do is actually watch a "Mad Max" movie, and it becomes obvious these suckers are incredibly difficult to make, no matter how much you prepare. Just ask Taylor-Joy.
Taylor-Joy lived Furiosa for months on end
If anyone's equipped to play a young Furiosa, it's Taylor-Joy. The rising star is no stranger to physically and mentally exhausting projects. Whether she's freezing in the mud for Robert Eggers' Viking epic "The Northman" or putting her ballet training to work while dancing up a storm in Edgar Wright's giallo-flavored horror-thriller "Last Night in Soho," the actor is known for liking a challenge. All the same, it sounds like "Furiosa" pushed her in unexpected but, based on her interview with Variety, exciting ways.
"I had the earliest call time of my life: 1:45 a.m. I'd be like, 'I just wrapped! What do you mean?! It's a mistake!'" Taylor-Joy recalled with what Variety described as "gleeful theater-kid energy." In addition to the extra-long shooting days, the nature of the Wasteland meant the actor and her costars were extensively covered in dirt and gunk throughout filming. "You will not believe how dirty I had to be for it to read on camera," Taylor-Joy explained. "The first time I looked at myself in the mirror [fake gasps] I was like, 'Whoa!' I looked like a creature from the Black Lagoon." Indeed, the actor's been getting splattered with fake blood since her film debut in Eggers' "The Witch," but insists that she wouldn't have it any other way. "Of course, there's blood — I'm always the 'More blood!' girl," she added.
That didn't necessarily change over the course of the movie's six-and-a-half-month shoot, either — although there was a point where Taylor-Joy realized just how extensively she'd immersed herself in the "Mad Max" universe. "[One day I realized] I hadn't seen anybody that wasn't in Wasteland hair and makeup in two months," she noted. "I had not seen anybody looking regular."
Furiosa was tough for her to make both physically and emotionally
Naturally, transforming into the tough-as-steel, heavy gun-wielding Furiosa meant Taylor-Joy had to hit the weights. "I was doing weights [including squats, lifts, and rows] and they helped for sure," she noted. "The stability weights give you, particularly in your shoulders — ballet dancers' arms are very strong, but it's all floaty." Graceful as she may be in a could-kill-you-with-her-pinkie sense, though, Furiosa is strong in a very different way. "It was about being able to hold myself up, and to hold these weapons too. I have a slight frame, and these are heavy guns," Taylor-Joy added.
Pretending you're living in the Wasteland is just as taxing emotionally, too. "This is the Wasteland, and any outbreak of emotion is punished by death," Taylor-Joy explained. "Any empathy is punished by death — any kindness, really. It all made sense to me. I think the restrictions that were placed on me by George did create a radiation off the character, because she is being suppressed continuously throughout the film."
That explains why Taylor-Joy found herself overwhelmed emotionally when watching a rough cut of the picture. "Within the first three minutes, I'm crying," she said. "And afterward, I cannot speak. I found it very traumatizing to watch." Likewise, when she spoke to the New York Times, she admitted, "I've never been more alone than making that movie." She added, "I don't want to go too deep into it, but everything that I thought was going to be easy was hard." Having already talked about her experience relentlessly for months, she understandably sounded more than ready to take a break and recuperate. "Talk to me in 20 years," as she put it.
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" opens in theaters on May 24, 2024.