Anya Taylor-Joy channels her inner Furiosa in the much-anticipated Mad Max prequel
Nine years ago, the Oscar-winning blockbuster “Mad Max: Fury Road” ended with a deep-thinking quote: “Where must we go … we who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?”
Now, Anya Taylor-Joy — star of the much-anticipated prequel “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”— has an answer based on her own life experiences: Not knowing where to go can actually help you figure out who you are.
“I think when I was younger, moving was very difficult for me. I didn’t speak English until I was 8 years old,” Taylor-Joy told NBC News in a video interview. “The fact that I didn’t necessarily fit into any one place perfectly made me feel like I was less than, and now I’ve realized that I’m actually so lucky to have this really multicultural background and it just makes me who I am.”
Taylor-Joy was born in Miami, spent a few years in Argentina and moved to London with her family at age 6. She says that the majority of her family is still in the Latin American country. And this nomadic existence has shaped both her perspective off screen and the outlook of her character Furiosa on screen.
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” which premieres nationwide Friday, tells the origin story of Furiosa in the years before she makes an epic escape in “Fury Road.”
The movie begins with Furiosa getting abducted as a child by a group of bikers. She is then forced into the custody of the warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), before being traded to a rival warlord, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).
Fans will recognize Taylor-Joy from the 2020 Netflix award-winning miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit” — she won the 2021 Golden Globe for best actress in a limited series/tv movie — as well as her roles in the 2021 horror film “The Last Night in Soho,” the 2022 historic action movie “The Northman,” and the 2022 horror-comedy “The Menu,” among others.
But Taylor-Joy says that less than a decade ago, she was first introduced to the Mad Max franchise as a viewer in the movie theater.
“I never imagined in seeing ‘Fury Road’ that I would have the opportunity to play one of the most iconic characters, and she is everything to me,” she said. “I was really excited to get the job, very excited to play in this particular sandbox with George [Miller, the Mad Max franchise director].”
Charlize Theron first played Furiosa in the 2015 “Fury Road.” Fans will remember her leading Immortan Joe’s slave wives in a bold escape from his fortified desert fortress. And while Taylor-Joy said that she played the character her own way, watching Theron do it on the big screen influenced her approach.
“Something that Charlize did so beautifully was that she really tapped into the essence of the character,” she said. “And so, rather than trying to pull specifically from her performance, I just felt if I tapped into the correct essence of the character that would get me there.”
Part of that essence, according to Taylor-Joy, involves looking at Furiosa’s character through the eyes of a woman.
“I think the first time that Furiosa was shown on screen there weren’t very many roles like it. And it caused such a stir,” she said. “You’re watching one woman in her singular mission be derailed and kind of squashed down by these two giant powers that be, these two almost demonic men in this instance.”
The “Mad Max” franchise is a wide-sweeping survival epic about a society that has collapsed with war, lack of resources and the destruction of the environment.
Taylor-Joy says that this type of adrenaline thriller can be exciting because viewers “want to see the good guy win.” But it also delivers an eye-opening warning.
“If we don’t want to end up in a world that’s barren and where empathy is punished, there are steps that we need to take today,” she said.
Yet within this sobering message, Taylor-Joy says that “Furiosa” also gives viewers hope.
“No matter how many times somebody pushes you down, if you keep standing up, at some point you will come out on top,” she said.
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