Furiosa's Coolest Cameo Has An Awesome Connection To Mad Max: Fury Road

This article contains spoilers for "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga."

There's a delicate dance to pulling off a great cameo. If a random appearance overstays its welcome, it can feel — to borrow a wrestling term — like a cheap pop. But if executed correctly, a cameo can elevate a scene into the stratosphere. David Bowie serving as the judge of the walk-off in "Zoolander" is perfection, Matt Damon singing "Scotty Doesn't Know" in "Eurotrip" gave us an all-time great "Is that who I think it is?!" moment, and Charlton Heston delivering a gripping, out-of-place monologue in the middle of "Wayne's World 2" is nothing short of genius. But for every Mike Tyson in "The Hangover," there's Vanilla Ice in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze." Sometimes a cameo happens because an actor happens to be filming something on the same lot, as was the case with John Cena in "Barbie," while sometimes cameos are a requirement, like Stan Lee in just about everything Marvel ever made.

In "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," director George Miller presents an epic, high-octane odyssey (our 10/10 review here) about Imperator Furiosa, a character who would join up with Max Rockatansky to try and take down The Citadel under the tyrannical rule of Immortan Joe in "Mad Max: Fury Road." Max is the center of the entire "Mad Max" franchise, but there is an argument to be made that like "Furiosa," "Fury Road" is also the Imperator's film. "Furiosa" is one of two films Miller had planned after the success of "Fury Road," with one showcasing how Furiosa got to the Citadel, and another, "The Wasteland," focused on Max. "Furiosa" is not Max's story, but that doesn't mean "Him that came the salvage" doesn't show up.

In a small moment during a battle in the Wasteland, Max Rockatansky is seen with his back to the camera atop a cliff, eating straight of the can next to his trusty Pursuit Special aka the V8 Interceptor. It lets the audience know that "Fury Road" wasn't actually the first time Max and Furiosa's paths crossed, but it's not clear how much Max knows of the situation below or whether or not seeing this fight is what got him closer to the action and inevitably captured at the start of "Fury Road." While Mel Gibson originated the role of Max, Tom Hardy took over the character for "Fury Road." Given the wild Australian shooting environment, George Miller wasn't going to fly Hardy out just for a few seconds of screentime, so he found a suitable replacement who already knows his way around the character.

As Miller explained during an exclusive screening of the film at IMAX headquarters I attended, Jacob Tomuri put on the jacket to portray Max. While Tomuri's name may not ring a bell to the casual viewer, diehard fans know he was Tom Hardy's stunt double on "Fury Road." According to Miller, "He's a New Zealand stuntman, and he was doing some other stunts on the film, and I thought, 'Who better'" This was the better option than having Hardy show up, with Miller joking that he wasn't going to call him up to ask, "Hey, do you want to come out here and do one bit where you stand next to the car?" So while the cameo may not be Tom Hardy, it's still Mad Max, baby.

"Furiosa" is now playing in theaters everywhere.