George Miller's Fury Road prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, revs into theaters this weekend, and while the movie is quite a bit more brutal than our previous trip to the Wasteland, it seems there was one scene that proved a little too gruesome for the legendary filmmaker.
Spoilers relating to the ending of the film follow.
During an interview with GQ, star Anya Taylor-Joy revealed that she convinced Miller to shoot a scene in which her character cuts out the tongue of her nemesis, the cruel warlord Demenetus (Chris Hemsworth), who was responsible for the death of her mother - and plenty more besides.
However, the gory moment didn't make the theatrical cut of the film.
“It was really important to me that the confrontation between Furiosa and Dementus be a physical one, and that it was hard-won,” said the actress. “It needed it; she needed it. I think there is something in seeing this person turn to something more carnal within herself.”
Taylor-Joy then explained how the film finally allowed her to tap into her female rage.
“For a long time the only time I ever got angry was on other people’s behalfs. I’ve always internalized this thing of ‘I’ve done something wrong. If you treat me badly, it’s because I am the problem.’ And I’m so grateful for Furiosa, because there was a real moment where I started getting angry for myself.”
We won't go into any more detail on what does happen during the final confrontation between Furiosa and Dementus, but if you want a full breakdown, be sure to check back here for our spoiler articles over the weekend.
"This is an odyssey without question of someone who's taken from her home and spends the rest of her life trying to get home," Miller explained to EW in a recent interview "I don't want to give away too much, but the one thing is Furiosa, in order to survive as a child in a world that's in extremis, she has to have a lot of innate resources."
"What's remarkable is we see some people endure [those extremes] and still emerge with a degree of human magnificence," the filmmaker continues. "Others are crushed by it and lost on the way. So you can see from the behavior of the mother the sort of things that the daughter inherits in the story. I think we are a product of our parents and those that came before to some extent. And we take all that material as human beings and negotiate the world. I think that's all of our stories, one way or another. And that's the same in this story."
You can check out the recently released full trailer below.
"As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus," reads the movie's synopsis. "Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home."
Miller penned the script with Fury Road co-writer Nico Lathouris. The director's behind-the-scenes creative team includes first assistant director PJ Voeten and second unit director and stunt coordinator Guy Norris, director of photography Simon Duggan (Hacksaw Ridge, The Great Gatsby), composer Tom Holkenborg, sound designer Robert Mackenzie, editor Eliot Knapman, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson and colorist Eric Whipp.
The team also includes other longtime collaborators: production designer Colin Gibson, editor Margaret Sixel, sound mixer Ben Osmo, costume designer Jenny Beavan and makeup designer Lesley Vanderwalt, each of whom won an Oscar for their work on Mad Max: Fury Road.