Until now, it wasn’t clear who would play the new Immortan Joe in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Story.” Now there’s clarity. And the actor even has a dual role.
If “Furiosa: A Mad Max Story” is even remotely as good as the breathless 2015 action blockbuster “Mad Max: Fury Road,” then on May 23, 2024, cinema fans can expect the absolute action highlight of the year. Back then, nobody had too high hopes for the new “Mad Max” film 30 years after “Beyond Thunderdome,” especially since Mel Gibson didn’t return to the role of former lawman Max Rockatansky. He was replaced by Tom Hardy, who wasn’t even the central focus of the dystopian world, but rather Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa. After years in development hell, practically nobody had the film on their radar – and so everyone was taken by surprise by director George Miller’s virtuosic action sequences.
This element of surprise isn’t present this time with “Furiosa: A Mad Max Story,” even though nearly 10 more years have passed since “Fury Road.” The first powerful teaser trailer already showed that fans can expect the same rapid aesthetic. The bar is set very high for this. This time, it must score with the plot and the new characters. But Miller likely took care of that, as alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (“Split”) as a young Furiosa and Marvel star Chris Hemsworth (“Tyler Rake: Extraction 2”) as the wild and sociopathic biker and warlord Dementus, there’s also a reunion with one of the best villains in recent film history: the tyrannical Immortan Joe.
He was portrayed in “Fury Road” by Australian actor Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was also part of George Miller’s first “Mad Max” as the villain Toecutter. Keays-Byrne died in December 2020 at the age of 73, so the role of Immortan Joe was vacant, although one must question whether director Miller would have hired him for the “Fury Road” prequel at all; after all, even the magnificent Charlize Theron had to step aside for the younger Taylor-Joy.
And: At the center of the coming-of-age story in “Furiosa” is the bitter and brutal battle for the Citadel between the two leaders, Immortan Joe and Dementus, who in terms of cruelty and madness are likely to be on par with each other. In this event known as the Wasteland War, it takes an actor who is capable of physically keeping up with the well-built Chris Hemsworth.
So far, it wasn’t really clear who would fill this role. But now Empire has revealed it: Lachy Hulme has the honor of stepping into Keays-Byrne’s shoes, as he revealed in an interview. In fact, the 52-year-old even has two roles: In addition to the distinctive costume of Immortan Joe, he also plays the role of Rizzdale Pell, one of the members of Dementus’s biker gang. You can watch the phenomenal trailer for “Furiosa: A Mad Max Story” here.
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Story”: How Lachy Hulme got the role of Immortan Joe Originally, it wasn’t even planned for Lachy Hulme to play the young Immortan Joe. He was simply interested in Miller’s plans for the cult leader:
“He (George Miller, note by the editor) said, ‘I’ll probably just use a body double.’ I replied, ‘Well, someone has to stand in for Hugh [Keays-Byrne]. Someone has to honor this man. I can do it. I can mimic the voice. And it all comes down to the eyes.'”
It wasn’t until filming had begun that Miller approached his longtime friend Hulme again and asked him if he wanted to take on the role, to which he gladly accepted the offer. Audiences will soon be able to see his qualities for themselves. Until then, you can stream “Mad Max: Fury Road” again on Amazon.
