Anya Taylor-Joy names the movie that made her want to become an actor
Actor Anya Taylor-Joy has enjoyed a surge in her career in recent years. After appearing in the fifth and sixth seasons of Peaky Blinders, she won her first Golden Globe nomination for a seamless portrayal of Emma Woodhouse in Autumn de Wilde’s Jane Austen adaptation, Emma. However, her story began many years prior when she watched one movie that changed her life.
Subsequently, Taylor-Joy has grown from strength to strength with a starring role in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit as well as roles in Last Night in Soho, The Northman, The Menu and Dune: Part Two.
Taylor-Joy is soon to appear in the titular role in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the highly-anticipated follow-up to George Miller’s 2015 Oscar-winning spectacle Mad Max: Fury Road.
In a new interview with Variety, the actor revealed that, so far she has only seen bits of the movie without CGI. “Furiosa doesn’t talk much,” she commented on her role. “She’s a pretty silent character. I hope that’s part of the reason George chose me. Until I was doing Furiosa, I didn’t quite realise that’s been a lot of my career — a lot of my career has played out in my eyes.”
Indeed, Taylor-Joy’s eyes are always a prominent force in her performances, ensnaring the audience, whether her part is amiable or nefarious. Continuing in her conversation, the actor revealed a soft spot for romantic dramas, identifying Atonement as the movie that made her want to follow her career dream.
The 2007 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s bestselling novel of 2001 starred James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Romola Garai, and Vanessa Redgrave. As far as Taylor-Joy was concerned, Saoirse Ronan, who portrayed Bryony Tallis, stole the show and inspired her acting aspirations. “I was like, ‘Wait, you can be a kid in an adult film?'” she added.
Although Taylor-Joy rose to prominence in 2020 with her roles in Peaky Blinders and The Queen’s Gambit, her childhood ambitions became a reality in 2015 with Sundance success thanks to her role in The Witch.
In Robbert Eggers’ acclaimed horror, she plays the part of a young farm girl who becomes entranced by dark magic. Taylor-Joy notes The Witch as the start of her emphatic rise, a high from which she still hasn’t sobered. “I joke that I went to Sundance and I never came home, but it’s not a joke,” she said. “It just happened.”
Watch the trailer for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy below.
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