Furiosa drives Cannes mad with 7-minute standing ovation
The fifth instalment in George Miller’s postapocalyptic action franchise received rapturous applause after the closing credits rolled at its Cannes Film Festival premiere.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the fifth instalment in George Miller’s postapocalyptic action franchise, received a rapturous seven-minute standing ovation after the closing credits rolled at its Cannes Film Festival premiere.
It was Australian star Chris Hemsworth’s first time at Cannes, and he looked on the verge of tears as he stood next to his wife Elsa Pataky in the Grand Lumiere Theatre, his gaze shifting between director George Miller and his co-star Anya Taylor-Joy.
As the applause continued, Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth flanked their director, with Hemsworth bestowing a kiss on Miller’s head.
“For every Australian actor, to work with George Miller on a Mad Max film is a dream come true,” Hemsworth, 40, told The Australian last month on the red carpet of the Furiosa world premiere in Sydney.
On the red carpet, Hemsworth broke the strict Cannes dress code, forgoing a bow tie for a relaxed unbuttoned white shirt and a buttery tuxedo suit.
Meanwhile, after wowing Australian fans with an eye-popping archival Paco Rabanne ensemble at the Sydney premiere, Taylor-Joy opted for a more subdued look, wearing a champagne Dior ball gown paired with Tiffany and Co. jewelry.
Miller’s fifth Mad Max film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is an origin story that recounts the life of young Furiosa (Taylor-Joy), the battle-hardened rig driver played by Charlize Theron in his 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road.
Fury Road, undeniably one of the greatest action films of the decade, debuted in Cannes out of competition nine years ago and went on to be rewarded with six Oscar wins from 10 nominations.
Hemsworth, who plays the unhinged bikie war lord Dementus in Furiosa, recalled how he felt coming out of the cinema after watching Miller’s 2015 film. “It’s the first time, since I’ve seen behind the curtain, that I was actually transported back into the space of the purity of being a fan,” he told The Australian.
With a budget of $343 million, Furiosa is the most expensive Australian movie ever made.
Taylor-Joy, 28, told The Australian that filming the movie profoundly changed her.
“I don’t think you can play a character like Furiosa and have an experience like this without being changed. I was incredibly isolated on this movie and I think it really taught me how to be with myself and what I actually valued in not only art but also my own integrity.
“I wanted to know how tough I was and this movie pushed me to that point.”
Taylor-Joy said that the production, which was filmed entirely in NSW in Broken Hill, Hay, and Kurnell, was “unrelenting.”
“I worked six days a week for six and a half months every single day, most of it being stunt work. You get to a point where you think you can’t get any further, and the love of it carries you forward and the support of the people around you,” she said.
(WATCH) Chris Hemsworth enjoys the ovation after ‘Furiosa’ premiere at #Cannes2024 (📹 @BazBam) pic.twitter.com/zgTKrIbGyc
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 15, 2024
The premiere was attended by Hemsworth, Taylor-Joy, Miller, Pataky, Barbie director Greta Gerwig, Baz Luhrmann, Faye Dunaway, Naomi Campbell, Billy Zane, and Eva Green.
Ahead of the screening, Miller told the crowd, “we worked very hard on this film, and it’s been very interesting to see what you make of it.”
Right as audience gets on its feet for lengthy standing ovation for Furiosa, George Miller greets Baz Luhrmann and his actors Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. #Cannes24pic.twitter.com/JhY0JsZoo6
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) May 15, 2024
Reviews for the film, which were under embargo until the end of the screening, have started rolling in.
The Australian’s Stephen Romei gave the film three stars out of five, writing “All the bits and pieces are there to continue this landmark series but the outcome result fails to leave an impression. It lacks oomph.”
Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian called the film “crazily colossal,” and rewarded it four stars out of five.
Manohla Dargis at the New York Times, in selecting the film as a Critic’s Pick, called Miller a “kick-ass prophet of doom,” but wrote that Furiosa “never fully pops the way the earlier one does.”
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