Anya Taylor-Joy has revealed she pushed George Miller to film a brutal moment in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga that symbolized “female rage,” but the scene did not make the final cut.
The actress told GQ that she created a scene in which Imperator Furiosa cuts out the tongue of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), with the magazine describing it as Taylor-Joy’s effort to “out-crazy” Miller.
The gory moment did not make Miller’s final edit, but Taylor-Joy said she had kept a prosthetic memento of Dementus’ tongue, which sits in a little plastic box in her home.
“It was really important to me that the confrontation between Furiosa and Dementus be a physical one, and that it was hard-won,” she said. “It needed it; she needed it. I think there is something in seeing this person turn to something more carnal within herself.”
Taylor-Joy added that the film had allowed her to tap into her female rage. “For a long time the only time I ever got angry was on other people’s behalfs. I’ve always internalized this thing of ‘I’ve done something wrong. If you treat me badly, it’s because I am the problem.’ And I’m so grateful for Furiosa, because there was a real moment where I started getting angry for myself,” she said.
Furiosa is eyeing an $80M-$85M global start when it premieres on May 24. The film received a standing ovation of 7 minutes and 50 seconds after the final frame played at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the origin story, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Hemsworth). But she then transfers over to Joe (Tom Burke). In the end, her loyalties lie with no one as she forms a bond with a rogue, mysterious warrior in the middle of the Wasteland as they team to take a prized commodity, petroleum, into their own hands.
