In-demand actress Anya Taylor-Joy was recently confirmed for a major part in Andy Serkis and Peter Jackson‘s “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum” as a new elf character, but this won’t be her first big entry into the world of epic-level studio franchises as she jumped into the “Mad Max” uinverse with “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (taking over the role from Charlize Theron in the prequel) and briefly camoed as Paul Atreides sister Alia in “Dune: Part Two” (expected to have a MUCH bigger part in “Dune: Part Three” in that final installment from Denis Villeneuve as a supernatural element allows her to grow quickly into an adult form)
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote her new Apple TV series “Lucky” (arriving on July 15), Taylor-Joy details her secret campaign to land that cameo as Alia in the “Dune” sequel and how the brutal, restrictive set demands from writer/director George Miller saw her forbidden from blinking on the set of “Furiosa.”
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The actress revealed how she ultimately found herself playing Ali as she had bumped into Villeneuve at a party back in 2022 and the French-Canadian filmmaker said that he had written a role for her in “Dune: Part Two” but her Furiosa commitment detrailed taking that part (we assume this was Lea Seydoux‘s Lady Margot or Florence Pugh‘s Princess Irulan ) as the schedules wouldn’t align, it was simply impossible — she went, in her own words, straight to “begging mode.” Adding, “I was devastated…I really wanted in on the world this man had built.” While making “Furiosa” in Australia, Taylor-Joy kept checking in with her agents, “What’s happening with Dune?” They told her it was over, but she refused to believe that, “I was like, ‘It’s not over. I can feel it. I know it in my gut. This is not over.'” When the “Mad Max” pic wrapped, Villeneuve ultimately called and shot her cameo that was used in one of Paul’s visions. “It’s probably my favorite filmmaking experience, ever,” Taylor-Joy said of the brief sequence.
Another tidbit that Taylor-Joy shared in the profile is that she wasn’t ready for the level of stillness Miller required for the role of Furiosa. Asking for a “Clint Eastwood-in-spaghetti-Western rigidity” calling it “suffocating.” But that wasn’t the only time she butted heads with Miller, as every day, for six months, there was some conflict about the ending with how Furiosa finally confronts Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus, the man who destroyed her life and killed her mother, advocating that she destroy him back, but not a quick and clean kill. Ultimately, in the final version, Furiosa captures Dementus, cripples him, and brings him back to the Citadel. Then she plants the peach pit she has carried since childhood into his body, and years later, a tree grows from him, bearing fruit. “It’s a very difficult conversation to have,” the actress recalled. “If I were to be completely honest about my experience, it would hurt nobody but myself.” She can look at the film now and understand what he was going for. But she is glad she got her ending. “I just advocated and advocated and advocated for her to live up to her name…That was my mountain on that movie, and I got it, but it was hard, hard won.”
On the “Lord of the Rings” front, she was very much “moved and transported by the original films,” from Jackson, and cannot wait to “travel to Middle-earth. Being an Elf in this world is a dream come true.” Lastly, when it comes to those Joni Mitchell biopic reports, she will neither confirm nor deny her involvement with it.
This summer, Ana Taylor-Joy will be shooting “The Hunt For Gollum” in New Zealand with a release date of December 17, 2027, and “Dune: Part Three” is coming out in theaters on December 16.
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