Charlize Theron has spoken of her eagerness to return to the world of Mad Max. In an interview to promote her upcoming action-movie Atomic Blonde, the Oscar-winner spoke of her role of Imperator Furiosa in the critically-acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road, and how much she would like to return to the character, in a prequel.
The relaunch of Mad Max spent a number of years in development hell, with George Miller (director of the original trilogy) not able to shoot the film until 2012. But once it was released in 2015, it proved a huge hit with moviegoers, became named as the best film of 2015 by worldwide critics, and scored 6 victories at the Oscars. Much of the acclaim was directed at not just the filmmaking aspects or Tom Hardy's stoic turn as the title character, but Theron's gutsy performance as the formidable Furiosa. She shared as much screen time as Max himself, as was as important to the narrative as he was. It didn't take long for rumors of a sequel to circulate, and Miller himself teased a backstory for Furiosa, which could be developed into sequels or prequels. Hardy has already stated that he is waiting on the call to come back as Max.
Speaking to Variety, Theron confirmed her love for her character, and also the fact that that a full story already exists for Furiosa and could form a prequel to Fury Road. When asked if she would play her again, she said:
"I'd love to. There were three scripts. They were written as back stories to Max's character and to Furiosa's character. But at the end of the day, this thing lives and breathes with [director] George [Miller]. I think Warner Bros. knows that. We are all waiting for him to show us the way."
Theron also spoke of the evolution of Furiosa's appearance and how it changed during filming;
"Originally, [George] liked this idea that even though they were in the desert, something happened and people actually turned albino, They became these white ghosts. I had this white hair, kind of like Abbey Lee [Kershaw's] character. It was very much like that: blonde, bleached, very pale skin, no eyebrows. We played around with African war paint. It would have been a completely different film."
It's satisfying to hear that Theron's affection for Furiosa is as strong as most fans, and that she is so willing to don the make-up and prosthetics to play her again. Many critics pointed out the strong feminist angles that the character brought to the film, and she is arguably one of the best female action heroines in recent years; something that Theron looks to be continuing with Atomic Blonde.
Encouragingly, Miller recently spoke of his desire to make more Mad Max sequels, and the black & chrome edition of Fury Road also re-invigorated interest. The idea of an origin story for Furiosa is quite appealing (how did she lose that arm?), but many people would welcome any kind of further entry in the Mad Max canon, be it prequel or sequel. Until we hear further news, we can only look forward to the prospect of Theron and Hardy reuniting in the post-apocalypse highways once again.
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Source: Variety