We’re just weeks away from Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, one of the most anticipated action movies of the decade, especially for car enthusiasts like us. In the George Miller-directed film, Anya Taylor-Joy is playing the titular role that was originated by Charlize Theron in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, with the new movie serving as an origin story for the character. In a fabulous new profile with Variety, Taylor-Joy talks about driving apocalyptic vehicles during filming, and how she wants to buy a Ferrari Dino despite not having a driver’s license of her own.
Fury Road was filmed in Namibia, but Furiosa was shot in Miller’s native Australia. As with the Oscar-winning predecessor, Miller relied on practical effects as much as possible for the new movie, creating elaborate stunt scenes filled with purpose-built hot rods, off-road vehicles, motorcycles and monster trucks that are all covered with things like spikes and flamethrowers. (One sequence in particular is said to have taken eight months to complete.) Taylor-Joy did much of the stuntwork herself, but as she revealed to Variety, she doesn’t actually have a license:
Another challenge: Furiosa drives fast, an obstacle given that Taylor-Joy doesn’t have a driver’s license. “I don’t think I allowed myself to think about crashing anything,” she says, adding that she’d try to get more sleep the nights before she shot the big chase scenes on motorbikes and other “Mad Max” vehicles.
[Co-star Chris] Hemsworth laughs when asked about filming these scenes with an unlicensed driver. “At the time, I wasn’t aware,” he says. “I think she automatically gets a license by default, doesn’t she?” He envisions Taylor-Joy marching up to the DMV: “‘Here’s my driver’s test,’ she’d say, and hand them a ticket to ‘Furiosa!’ And then the instructor should be like, ‘Oh yeah. We get it. You can do it!’”
Her lack of a license isn’t uncommon for an actor, as she splits her time between so many places while filming movies, and most people in LA just get driven around in Escalades anyway. But Taylor-Joy’s family gave her a good foundation for being into all things with motors:
She grew up in Argentina, and moved to London at 6 as the youngest in a family of six kids. She always saw herself as a tomboy who loved to play outdoors. “My dad is a powerboat racer,” she says, “and we love Formula One.” The only reason she doesn’t have a driver’s license, she says, is that she doesn’t have a place she thinks of as a permanent home (though Los Angeles is where she hangs her hat when not shooting). “I’m never in one place long enough to get one,” she says. “I also feel like I probably need to learn how to parallel park. That’s something I don’t know how to do.”
Later in the piece, Taylor-Joy reveals that before she starts filming Dune 3 or any other project, she wants to buy a car — and a good one at that. Anya, if you’re reading this, I live in Los Angeles and know all the right people, I can help you find your dream Dino. Call me. For everyone else reading this, head over to Variety to read the full profile. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga hits theaters on May 24.
But before she has time to return to outer space, or possibly to Furiosa — if Miller’s latest futuristic vision hits big — she has plans of her own. With or without a driver’s license, she sees herself behind a new set of wheels. “I know the exact kind of car I’m going to get,” she says. “Ferrari Dino, in yellow.”
Taylor-Joy speeding down Sunset with the top down in a canary-colored vintage Ferrari would certainly attract paparazzi, but she’s not going to let that stop her. “My agents, my friends are like, ‘This is the dumbest thing in the world,’” she says. “I’m like, ‘I’m attracted to this car. I need to have this car. I don’t care.’” Soon, all of Los Angeles might see this freshly minted movie star hit the gas and go, go, go.