Mad Max: Fury Road was never going to be an easy act to follow, but it sounds like upcoming prequel Furiosa, which sees Anya Taylor-Joy play a younger version of Charlize Theron's Fury Road character, has put the pedal to the metal when it comes to reaching the hair-raising thrills of the 2015 movie.
The film "has one 15-minute sequence which took us 78 days to shoot", with close to 200 stunt people working on it daily, director George Miller's producing partner Doug Mitchell tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, April 25, which features Furiosa on the cover. Known during production as 'Stairway to Nowhere', the sequence marks a turning point for Furiosa.
"George and I would have these big conversations about why this particular set-piece was so long," says Taylor-Joy, who still doesn’t have a driver’s license, despite learning to do a J-turn on her first day of stunt school. "It’s because you see an accumulation of skills over the course of a battle, and that’s very important for understanding how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her grit. It’s the longest sequence any of us have ever shot. On the day we finished, everybody got a 'Stairway To Nowhere' wine!"
Starting with her capture by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and his Biker Horde, the new movie follows Furiosa's quest for vengeance and her attempts to reunite with her family in her homeland.
Furiosa is released on May 24. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, April 25.
Check out the covers below:
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