In a classic case of the Oscars picking the right actor but for the wrong film, Charlize Theron won Best Actress for her performance in Monster, a perfectly fine movie that no one has watched more than once. Meanwhile, Theron should have won her Oscar, or at least been nominated for one, for playing Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, arguably the best film of the 2010s. Unfortunately, the Academy won’t be able to do right by Theron in director George Miller’s follow-up to Fury Road, because “the film is a prequel centered on a young Furiosa, and Miller is searching for an actress in her 20s to take over the role,” according to the New York Times. Miller considered digital de-aging technology, but “despite the valiant attempts on The Irishman, I think there’s still an uncanny valley.”
It’s a monkey’s paw scenario (“I wish for a Furiosa spin-off movie… oh no, I should have specified with Theron”), and while The Old Guard star finds it “a little heartbreaking” that she won’t reprise the character in the prequel, she’s also not bitter about the re-casting.
“It’s a tough one to swallow. Listen, I fully respect George, if not more so in the aftermath of making that film with him. He’s a master, and I wish him nothing but the best,” Theron told the Hollywood Reporter. “Yeah, it’s a little heartbreaking, for sure. I really love that character, and I’m so grateful that I had a small part in creating her. She will forever be someone I think of and reflect on fondly. Obviously, I would love to see that story continue, and if he feels like he has to go about it this way, then I trust him in that manner. We get so hung up on the smaller details that we forget the thing that we emotionally tap into has nothing to do with that minute thing that we’re focusing on.”
At least Furiosa will be in good hands, if the early casting rumors are true.