‘We Have to Stop With the Crying’

Anya Taylor-Joy, who portrays the titular heroine in George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is an advocate for more honest feminine emotions on screen. The actress has said that she is often presented with scenes where her character reacts to devastating moments by crying. However, Talyor-Joy said she often fights for her characters to embrace anger and rage, considering the reactions to be a better fit for the scene, resulting in the scripts being changed.

Anya Taylor-Joy recently spoke to British GQ for the cover story, and discussed her battle to bring “feminine rage” to the big-screen. “What planet are we living on?” the actress had said when she was presented with a scene in The Menu in which her character had to cry, instead believing that her character should “leap across the table and try and literally kill him with my bare hands.”

The actress said she has been fighting for more realistic feminine emotions since her feature film debut in Robert Eggers’ The Witch. As her character was being dragged across the farm after being accused of witchcraft, the script demanded that her character break down in tears, fearing for her life. However, Anya Taylor-Joy spoke to Eggers, believing that “she’s angry; she’s f*cking pissed. She’s been blamed time and time again, and she’s not doing anything. We have to stop with the crying.”

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

3.5/5

A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be. 

Release Date

May 24, 2024

Runtime

2h 28m

Anya Taylor-Joy said that her disbelief at female characters always crying after bad news has earned her a reputation. The actress said:

“I’ve developed a bit of a reputation for fighting for feminine rage, which is a strange thing, because I’m not promoting violence – but I am promoting women being seen as people. We have reactions that are not always dainty or un-messy.”

Anya Taylor-Joy Did a Lot of Her Own Stunts in Furiosa

Much like the previous film in the franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an adrenaline-fueled action movie through and through. As a result, the production was filled with numerous action sequences, many of which required the work of expert stunt performers. However, director George Miller has given Anya Taylor-Joy a lot of credit for performing a lot of her own stunts in the film, and the director didn’t even realize she was doing it. The director recalled a scene where Furiosa had to land in the War Rig by smashing through the front windscreen, saying:

“I was watching it and I saw her stunt double, Hayley [Wright], and thought, Gee, she looks a lot like Anya. I spoke to [second unit director and stunt coordinator] Guy [Norris] and he said, ‘That wasn’t Hayley, that was Anya.’ That happened a lot.”

Related

Furiosa Lands Perfect Scores & a Strong Rotten Tomatoes Rating Following First Reviews

George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga receives many flawless reviews as the first reactions and RT score are released.

Furiosa could be the first of many new movies in the Mad Max franchise. George Miller has publicly admitted that he frequently thinks about Max Rockatansky’s (Tom Hardy) whereabouts during the events of Furiosa, and could one day bring that story to the screen. Miller has also said he wants to explore where Furiosa’s story goes after the events of Fury Road, meaning Charlize Theron (who played the older Furiosa in Fury Road) could be returning to the role in the future.