Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga star Lachy Hulme reveals how his role as the younger Immortan Joe allowed him to step into the shoes of the late Mad Max: Fury Road actor Hugh Keays-Byrne.
In an interview with Empire, Hulme explained how director George Miller had cast him initially as a henchman in the crew of Wardlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) in the upcoming Mad Max prequel. When the director struggled to find a young replacement for Keays-Byrne’s unforgettable main antagonist from Fury Road, Hulme saw an opportunity.
[Miller] said, ‘I’ll probably just get a body double,’” Hulme recalled. “I said, ‘Well, somebody needs to step up for Hugh. Someone needs to honor this great man. I can do it. I can do the voice. And it’s all in the eyes.’ [Miller] said, ‘Do you want to do it?’ I said, ‘What took you so long? You’ve finally figured out that this movie ain’t gonna make dollar one until you’ve got double Lachy Hulme in it!’”
The challenge for Hulme handling two roles just adds to the ambitious scope of Furiosa which director Miller previously teased as “a different animal” than Fury Road and the earlier three Mad Max movies starring Mel Gibson. The intense action sequences across physically deserted locations for the wasteland made Hulme reminded him of David Lean’s classic Lawrence of Arabia. Hulme described Furiosa as “David Lean, but with motorbikes instead of camels. When you see 4,000 custom-made motorbikes come over a hill, you shit your pants.”
What is Furiosa about?
Set 15 years before the events of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa stars Anya Taylor-Joy in a tale that sees the future war captain caught in the middle of a battle between two warring tyrants in the Wasteland. The movie co-stars Chris Hemsworth as Warlord Dementus, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Nathan Jones, and Angus Simpson. Miller directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters on May 24.
