Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho looks poised to shake up the movie landscape thanks in no small part to the brilliance of Anya Taylor-Joy, and accredited veteran director George Miller knows it. The Mad Max creator met with the Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim director to watch an early cut of Wright's latest effort. Upon seeing her performance, Miller cast Taylor-Joy in the lead role of Furiosa, his hotly-anticipated Fury Road prequel. Wright supported the idea, singing the praises of his lead actress in a way that would suggest he had something truly special at play on set. And with the track record of talent Wright has worked with in the past, for Taylor-Joy to standout so means audiences have something truly special awaiting them in Last Night in Soho.
Though she was scouted as a model as early as 2013, the meteoric rise of Anya Taylor-Joy began with her breakout role in Robert Eggers' directorial debut The Witch (2016). The triple-citizen of Great Britain, Argentina, and the United States followed up her acclaimed performance with two substantial roles in critical failures, but earned a hit opposite James McAvoy in M. Night Shyamalan's Split (2016). She reprised her role in its sequel Glass (2019) and received widespread attention for her performances in 2020 releases Emma and TV miniseries The Queen's Gambit. Riding this high, she was cast in Last Night in Soho, Edgar Wright's first feature since 2017, and all indicators point towards another home run for Taylor-Joy—so much so that she garnered attention from George Miller.
Miller's response to early screenings of Wright's latest film suggests Anya Taylor-Joy is remarkable in Last Night in Soho. Upon seeing her performance, he was moved to mention to Wright that he was looking for someone to cast as young Imperator Furiosa, to which Wright replied with an emphatic recommendation. Miller arranged for a camera test, enjoyed her take on the iconic "Mad As Hell" speech from Network (1976), and cast her, indicating two things. First, Anya Taylor-Joy is so excellent in Soho that she earned an immediate invite to take the role as one of the more iconic action film characters in recent memory, portrayed expertly by Charlize Theron in 2015. Second, her excellence elevates Last Night in Soho to unprecedented levels perhaps never reached by Wright's already-celebrated oeuvre.
Quirky, quick-paced, and quintessentially British, Edgar Wright's movies are among the smartest, fastest, most playful comedies of the last 20 years. His Cornetto Trilogy of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), on which he collaborated with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, have earned him a fervent fan following. Said following was only bolstered by his take on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), among the more visually true live-action comic adaptations. Baby Driver (2017) earned him Oscar buzz, but he was ultimately snubbed. If Miller's instincts are to be believed, Soho could be the film to finally get Wright in with the Academy.
An Academy Award-winning director himself, George Miller knows talent. Boasting one of the stranger career trajectories in the industry, the Aussie looks to follow up his universally beloved 2015 magnum opus with a prequel. Given how celebrated Fury Road was by audiences and critics alike, there's a substantial pressure on the prequel not to cheapen the legacy of its predecessor, and that pressure rests mostly on the lead's shoulders. If Miller is excited about Taylor-Joy in Mad Max prequel, Furiosa, the successor to Theron's iconic turn has a chance at rising to the occasion.
But with Furiosa's 2023 tentative release date still well off into the future, attention must turn to Last Night in Soho and its impending October opening. Edgar Wright has yet to give audiences a dud, and with hype building around Anya Taylor-Joy, this could be the most essential installment in his filmography yet.
