Charlize Theron discusses her badass character from Mad Max: Fury Road

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Next to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS I'd have to say that MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is my most anticipated blockbuster of 2015. With each trailer and photo successfully driving home this bizarre post-apocalyptic world full of strange and wonderful characters, I can't help but to have high hopes that MAD MAX: FURY ROAD will live up to everyone's expectations.

One of the great new additions to the world of Mad Max is Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa; with her shaved head and badass prosthetic arm, she certainly looks at home in the wastelands. Getting the look of the character nailed down was a challenge for George Miller and his team; previous looks included one with numerous facial scars while another had an albino tribal vibe with platinum hair and periwinkle blue war paint. In the end it was Charlize Theron herself who found the key to the character by saying "I just said, ‘I have to shave my head.'" Furiosa lives in a place where all women have been enslaved as breeding and milking chattel, so it's an appropriate look for a woman whom Immortan Joe and his soldiers deem worthless due to her inability to bare children.

They almost forget she’s a woman, so there is no threat, I understood a woman that’s been hiding in a world where she’s been discarded.

The character of Imperator Furiosa should prove to be a wonderful counterpoint to Tom Hardy's Mad Max as he has essentially lost the will to live; Furiosa on the other hand is filled with rage at the culture which has rejected her and it's this rejection which fuels her desire to build a better home for her and her sisters, but at the heart of it all is her desire for vengeance.

I didn’t want Furiosa to be this girl who saves all the young, pretty girls from their horrible state, I wanted it to be way more personal than that.

Theron, who apparently lobbied hard for the role as soon as it was announced, says that she "cannot think of another female character in cinema who’s like her." Fingers crossed that we'll all leave the theater with a smile on our faces when MAD MAX: FURY ROAD finally hits theaters on May 15, 2015.