EMBRACING GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY FOR FURIOSA' ANYA TAYLOR-JOY OPENS UP ABOUT HER HAIR-RAISING NEW ROLE AND HOW BALLET HELPS HER PREPARE FOR FIGHT SCENES

'I was excited to shave my head, but then I met with the director and he didn't want me to do it'

As one of the red-carpet queens at the Cannes Film Festival, Anya Taylor-Joy has enjoyed dressing up in the most ethereal and glittering of gowns.

Indeed, throughout her career, the 28-year-old actress has become known as one of the most stylish stars in Hollywood – not least for her custom Dior wedding gown, which she unveiled on Instagram in April, when she revealed she had secretly tied the knot with musician and actor Malcolm McRae in 2022.

But for her title role in the postapocalyptic action film Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, she relished getting filthy and grubby.

“I loved it,” she says in this exclusive interview. “It’s clean dirt most of the time, which takes time for the make-up team to apply, but then I came with the idea of just dropping and rolling to get dirty. It seemed quicker to me.”

A prequel to 2015’s hit Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa sees Anya taking on the role Charlize Theron first portrayed. And the Oscar-winning actress was on hand to offer advice.