As George Miller turned heads in the film world by being able to churn out an insane action thrill ride that rivals his younger peers, many anticipate his return to the Wasteland with the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The trailers are already showing a great deal of sequences that look as if Miller remains in top form as Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth engage in his signature vehicular warfare.
And now, it seems like Furiosa will also be the franchise’s longest film, with the Cannes Film Festival website confirming its 2 hour and 28 minute runtime.
While that means the film is significantly longer (by a half hour) than Fury Road, it’s worth noting that this prequel tells a truly epic tale that takes place over decades. Fury Road only took place over two days. George Miller’s producing partner, Doug Mitchel, recently teased that Furiosa “has one 15-minute sequence which took us 78 days to shoot,” with nearly 200 stunt people working on it each and every day. The sequence was known as Stairway to Nowhere during production and is said to mark a turning point for Furiosa.
Furiosa star Anya Taylor-Joy added, “George and I would have these big conversations about why this particular set-piece was so long. It’s because you see an accumulation of skills over the course of a battle, and that’s very important for understanding how resourceful Furiosa is, but also her grit. It’s the longest sequence any of us have ever shot. On the day we finished, everybody got a ‘Stairway To Nowhere’ wine!“
In addition to Taylor-Joy as Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth also stars as biker warlord Dementus, and it was a role that he’s called the best experience of his career. “I came into that film exhausted. I thought, ‘How am I going to get through this?’” Hemsworth said. “Week one of rehearsals with [Miller], all of a sudden it was this reigniting of my creative energy.” The actor said the production of Furiosa was “by far the best experience of my career, and something I feel the most proud of. It made me think, the work isn’t what’s exhausting it’s what kind of work it is, and how invested I am in it and if it is challenging in the right way.”
The official synopsis for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: “As the world fell, 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. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by the Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.“
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will hit theaters on May 24th. FilmRatings.com reports the movie has been “Rated R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images.“