Furiosa‘s lead actor Anya Taylor-Joy won’t be speaking much in the upcoming film – find out why below.
- READ MORE: Mad Max: Fury Road – film review
In a recent chat with The Telegraph, director George Miller revealed that Taylor-Joy, who will be portraying the titular Furiosa, only has “around” 30 lines of dialogue throughout the entire film.
All lead actors in the Mad Max franchise haven’t had much dialogue in their films; Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy both spoke minimally in their respective films. Miller explained that dialogue tends to slow things down, and film is a medium that’s often best enjoyed at high speed. Instead, Miller relies on his lead actors’ abilities to tell stories from their facial reactions and mannerisms instead.
Speaking to The New York Times, Anya Taylor-Joy revealed that having an extremely limited number of lines meant she went “months” without speaking or recording a single line of dialogue.
However, she shared that she fought “for three months” to include a scream that Miller had initially objected to. Explaining Miller’s methodology, Taylor-Joy said: “He had a very, very strict idea of what Furiosa’s war face looked like, and that only allowed me my eyes for a large portion of the movie. It was very much ‘mouth closed, no emotion, speak with your eyes.’ That’s it, that’s all you have.”
She continued: “I am a really strong advocate of female rage. We’re animals, and there’s a point where somebody just snaps. There’s one scream in that movie, and I am not joking when I tell you that I fought for that scream for three months. With George, it’s a long game.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – due out on March 23 – has received favourable reviews from critics who have already seen the action blockbuster. Fandango’s Erik Davis described the movie as “A ferocious & relentlessly paced epic that expands the story of Furiosa and the Wasteland while delivering the craziest chases, the most bombastic characters & just plain stunning cinematography.”
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, the movie will serve as a prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Zoë Kravitz.