Taking On Furiosa's Villain Role 'Scared The S*** Out Of' Chris Hemsworth
Without question, one of the most anticipated movies of the summer is "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga." Serving as a prequel to 2015's action masterpiece "Mad Max: Fury Road," director George Miller is finally back nearly a decade later to deliver the long-promised fifth entry in his legendary franchise. This time around, we have a familiar hero in Furiosa, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy ("The Queen's Gambit"), facing off against a new villain in Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth ("Thor"). For Hemsworth, in particular, playing the villain in the latest "Mad Max" film was a scary prospect.
In a new cover story for Entertainment Weekly, Hemsworth revealed that he felt some trepidation in taking on the role. The actor, who has played Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for nearly 15 years, explained that it "scared the s*** out of me." Why would one of the biggest stars in the world be scared of a franchise film when he's very accustomed to starring in big franchise films at this point? For starters, even though he had two years to study the script, two weeks before shooting began, Hemsworth realized he wasn't ready:
"I don't really have a handle on the character. And I don't quite have all the confidence that I would normally have walking into this."
To get ready, Hemsworth decided to take some advice from Miller and spent time journaling as the villain Dementus, a character the two of them worked together to create for "Furiosa." One night, the actor woke up and began writing as the character. As he explained:
"It was about the why of the character more. I think I was focusing too much on what he's doing in the script rather than why he was doing it and why he'd become that."
Finding the character of Dementus in Furiosa
As we've seen in the trailers for "Furiosa," Hesmworth is hardly recognizable as the villain (save for the superhero-like muscles), with everything from prosthetics to an off-kilter voice disguising the actor audiences are familiar with. All of it, the hair, makeup, costumes, and prosthetics, helped flesh out the character. Speaking about the nose specifically, Hemsworth said Miller wanted the character "to be this historic-looking Roman figure."
Hemsworth has had a monster career, starring in one of Netflix's biggest movies, "Extraction," while also taking on projects like "Rush" from filmmakers like Ron Howard when he has the time. However, after playing the God of Thunder in "Thor: Love and Thunder," a movie the actor says he became a "parody of himself" in, doing something scary seemed like the right move:
"I've heard people talk about how you want to choose the roles that scare you. And, yeah, it's sort of an actor-y thing to say. But I think it was a good thing. I think it forces you to dig that bit deeper. And the challenges, the adversity — that's where the growth occurs. I feel like I learned more on this film than anything I'd ever done because of what was asked of all of us and how challenging it was, in a wonderful way."
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" hits theaters on May 24, 2024. You can read the film's official synopsis below:
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.