While many Mad Max fans (including me) have already guessed that Chris Hemsworth would be playing Max in the next film, recent reports say that he’ll instead play the main antagonist named Dr. Dementus (not to be confused with Dr. Demento).
The news comes from New York Times reporter Kyle Buchanan who wrote the book “Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road” during his appearance on the Black Check with Griffin & David podcast. In the interview, Buchanan revealed the villain’s name, which lines up with previous reports from a leaked casting call stating that Chris Hemsworth will be playing a character named Dementus who is described as “30s-40s” and “breathtakingly handsome.”
I guess since I was busy, they decided to go with Hemsworth instead. It’s cool.
The leak went on to describe the Dementus character as having “an angel’s face, scarred by a deep forehead wounded stitched together with shiny chrome staples.”
Mad Max: Furiosa is said to be a prequel to the other movies in the franchise, telling the origin story of Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Fury Road. As an interesting side-note, Gal Gadot was originally auditioned for that Furiosa role, which probably would have skyrocketed her career before she mastered the Wonder Woman character so brilliantly.
George Miller, who has written and directed every Mad Max movie since 1979, will be back to write, direct, and produce Furiosa along with business partner Doug Mitchell.
“I didn’t set out to make a big, epic movie,” Miller said. “It’s a story I wanted to tell. But as it turns out, it’s just got a lot of different scenes. The one thing I can say about it is, Fury Road happened over three days and two nights, but this is a saga. It happens over many years. So there’s a lot of different elements to it.”
Of course, Hemsworth is beyond excited to play a role in this next Mad Max film, citing not only an admiration and respect for Mel Gibson’s original role, but also an appreciation for returning to his home in New South Wales, Australia.
“It’s something I’m going to put my heart and soul into because it really is for me, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest pinch-myself moment because I’ve grown up watching it,” he said in an interview with AMC Australia.
Mad Max: Furiosa is expected to release on May 24, 2024.
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