Charlize Theron was so brilliant as the one-armed Imperator that fans of the Mad Max franchise cannot imagine anyone else as the iconic heroine. It may be surprising, then, for them to hear that director George Miller may have had someone completely different in mind for the role: Rihanna
Reporter Kyle Buchanan details Miller's two-decade-long struggle to bring Mad Max: Fury Road to the big screen. Everything from filming location issues to the behind-the-scenes tension between Tom Hardy and Theron was revealed in the tell-all. However, the most interesting revelation was that Miller and casting director Ronna Kress initially wanted Rihanna to star in the film.
The book, titled Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, reveals that Miller and Kress set up a private meeting in 2009 with the Barbadian singer to see what she could bring to the project. At that time, considering Rihanna for a major acting role in Mad Max: Fury Road was not too farfetched an idea since she had already appeared in other fantasy-genre films before, such as Battleship and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. She also had an air of mystery about her, which was a quality that Miller and Kress really wanted in the actors they cast for the film.
While she didn't end up landing a role as Furiosa or one of Immortan Joe's five wives, Miller and Kress both admit she left a major impression on them. They said that she looked spectacular when she walked into the meeting, which was refreshing since most actors would turn up dressed very casually. It seemed to them that she was not aware of the content of the movie, so she dressed up as herself, which they said was the right thing for her to do.
Similarly, Miller and Kress also had another superstar on their radar during the casting process: Eminem. The rapper first showed off his acting skills in 8 Mile, which is what initially caught Miller's attention. Miller went on to include Eminem in a lot of preliminary storyboards for Mad Max: Fury Road, and he even consulted the late Brittany Murphy about him to get a better gauge of who he was as an actor.
Unsurprisingly, she had nothing but words of praise for him and his talent. In the end, it didn't work out because they approached him when they were about to film in Australia, and he just didn't want to leave home.
Mad Max: Fury Road is now streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Vulture
