A prequel to the Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise “Mad Max” featuring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth will be filmed in Australia, authorities said on Monday.
“Furiosa” is scheduled for release in mid-2023 and is required to become the greatest film ever made in Australia, New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
Chris Hemsworth said being engaged with such a project in his country was a little glimpse of heaven.
“This will be my fourth or fifth film here in Australia,” the “Thor” star said in Sydney.
“It really is, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest pinch-myself moment, because I’ve grown up watching it and it’s so iconic,” Chris Hemsworth said.
“It is a huge honor. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating,” he added.
Actors and teams will make a trip to areas across New South Wales, including the mining town of Broken Hill, the surrounds of which have traditionally given the post-apocalyptic landscapes of the movies.
The most recent film in the franchise, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” released in 2015, was for the most part shot in Nambia because unseasonal rain left Outback New South Wales curiously green.
The lead actor in “The Queen’s Gambit” miniseries, Taylor-Joy will star in the film as a more youthful version of Furiosa, who was played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 installment.
Writer and director George Miller, who with Byron Kennedy began the “Mad Max” franchise featuring Mel Gibson in 1979, said he was appreciative to shoot the film in his home country, because of financial support from the state and central governments.
“I had friends in England shooting movies that were shut down two or three times,” George Miller said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect.
George Miller said he was likewise excited by the role an Australian film blast was playing in the country’s recuperation from the pandemic.
Australia has been named “Aussiewood” in the media because various actors have left Los Angeles for the opportunities of Sydney while Australia has been generally effective in ending community transmission of COVID-19.