There’s been a minor bump in the road of the Mad Max spinoff Furiosa as Mank star Tom Burke has replaced Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who had to leave due to scheduling conflicts.
It’s unknown which project Aquaman and The Matrix: Resurrections star was double booked for and why he’d leave a popular franchise (the third he’s been apart of under Warner Bros). However, sources have told Deadline it’s a secret passion project Abdul-Mateen has been developing for a while, and production on it moved up recently.
It’s great to hear Yahya left for something he cares about because I was worried it might’ve been something that happened behind the scenes to force the exit. Now I can’t wait to see what this passion project is.
Meanwhile, Burke joins Anya Taylor-Joy, who’s starring in the titular role, and Chris Hemsworth. After the popularity of the character from Mad Max: Fury Road, the standalone movie will reveal the origins of Furiosa.
George Miller will be directing, co-writing and producing the standalone spinoff.
For Burke, this marks as his first major studio film having played Orson Wells in Netflix’s Mank and received plaudits for his performance in The Souvenir and will be starring opposite Florence Pugh in the upcoming flick The Wonder.
This would mark the first big budget film Australian Miller has directed since Mad Max: Fury Road made $375.2 million at the worldwide box office and won six Oscars, and earned a Best Director and Best Picture nomination.
The Bear Cave 