Chris Hemsworth Cast In 'Mad Max' Prequel 'Furiosa'
Casting news continues to come out of Hollywood even as the global coronavirus pandemic makes it hard for studios to pin down a date to start production or even premiere films that have already been shot.
Variety reports that Thor star Chris Hemsworth has been cast alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the prequel for the commercially successful and critically acclaimed movie, Mad Max: Fury Road.
The movie will explore the origins of Imperator Furiosa, the character that Charlize Theron played in the 2015 movie. Taylor-Joy will be playing the young Furiosa, while Hemsworth and Abdul-Mateen’s roles have not yet been revealed.
Deadline says that George Miller, who directed all of the Mad Max films, will be returning for the prequel. He will also be co-writing and producing the film with his longtime producing partner Doug Mitchell. Kennedy Miller Mitchell, Miller’s own company based in Australia, will produce the film alongside Warner Bros.
Aside from Miller and Mitchell, members of the production team expected to return for the prequel include second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris, first assistant director PJ Voeten, makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, sound mixer Ben Osmo, editor Margaret Sixel, and production designer Colin Gibson. Gibson, Sixel, Osmo, and Vanderwalt all won Oscars to contribute to Mad Max: Fury Road.
Hemsworth, Taylor-Joy, and Abdul-Mateen’s casting are just the latest news to come out of planned blockbuster films coming out from Hollywood. Recently, Benedict Cumberbatch was announced as part of the cast of the third Spider-Man movie.
According to reports, Cumberbatch’s character, Doctor Strange, will take on the mentor to Peter Parker, that was left empty after Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. It was also reported that Cumberbatch would go on to film the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after this movie.
Jamie Foxx, who played the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was also reported to be joining the cast of the third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie.
Other casting news from earlier in the year includes Jude Law laying Captain Hook in the Disney live-action film Peter Pan and Wendy. Law will be joining young cast members Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson. Molony will be playing Peter Pan while Anderson plays Wendy.
When any one of these movies will begin production will depend on the global coronavirus pandemic state. According to the World Health Organization, there are now 37,704,153 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. COVID-19 has also caused the deaths of 1,079,029 people.