Mad Max prequel Furiosa to be shot in Outback for 2023 release

A prequel to the Mad Max movie franchise starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth will be filmed in Australia, officials said.

Furiosa is slated for release in mid-2023 and is expected to become the biggest film ever made in Australia, according to New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Avengers star Hemsworth said being involved in such a project in his homeland was a dream come true.

“This will be my fourth or fifth film here in Australia,” the Thor actor said in Sydney.

“It really is, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest ‘pinch-myself’ moment, because I’ve grown up watching it (the Mad Max series) and it’s so iconic,” Hemsworth added.

“It is a huge honour. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating.”

Actors and crews will travel to locations across New South Wales, including the mining town of Broken Hill, the surrounds of which have traditionally provided the post-apocalyptic landscapes of the movies.

The lead actor in The Queen’s Gambit miniseries, Taylor-Joy will star in the film as a younger version of Furiosa, who was played by Charlize Theron in the 2015 instalment.

Writer and director George Miller, who first began the Mad Max franchise starring Mel Gibson in 1979, said he was grateful to shoot the film in his home country, thanks to financial support from the state and federal governments.

Miller said he was also excited by the role an Australian film boom was playing in the nation’s recovery from the pandemic.

Australia has been dubbed “Aussiewood” in the media because a number of actors have left Los Angeles for the freedoms of Sydney while Australia has been relatively successful in halting community transmission of Covid-19.