George Miller reveals how Chris Hemsworth improved on early concepts of Furiosa’s Big Bad Dementus.

Director George Miller has confirmed that Furiosa‘s script was written before Fury Road started filming. He noted Chris Hemsworth’s creative input had everything to do with the version of Dementus fleshed out in the film.

Despite Furiosa‘s numerous script revisions, director George Miller said the spirit of the story was kept intact in the theatrical release. He credited the cast for pitching in ideas that improved the narrative and characters, particularly one of the film’s main villains Dementus (played by Chris Hemsworth). The actor previously said the role stood out among his casting credits, since this is the first time he’ll be starring as a true antagonist. In an interview with RadioTimes, Miller praised Hemsworth for making Dementus single-minded and complex; his nuanced performance definitely showed in the trailers for the film.

Miller explained how Hemsworth’s Dementus differs from initial descriptions of the character. “In the early concept art done on Furiosa, Dementus had a teddy bear,” he said. “He looked nothing like the Dementus we see in this movie. But he had a teddy bear. And it was just there without any regard to what the story was.” Early impressions of Dementus peg him as a jovial version of Immortan Joe, but later proven unique from the franchise’s villains. As for his backstory, Dementus has been referenced in the 2015 Mad Max video game; Immortan Joe’s son Scabrous Scrotus was allowed to rule Gas Town after defeating Dementus in the Wasteland Wars. That game is not canon to the lore but it offers clues to Dementus’ motivations in Furiosa.

Chris Hemsworth Made Dementus His Own

Miller said there was little development to Dementus’ character until Hemsworth stepped in. “As we rewrote the script when we were preparing to do the feature film, we added a little bit more about the teddy bear and so on,” he confirmed. “And then Chris Hemsworth, when he read the screenplay, somehow had dug down deeper into it – much more than I had in many ways, particularly from the point of view of his character. He started to see meaning in that teddy bear. And he was able to, you know… he brought a lot to the character.”

Hemsworth owned Dementus and made him a humorous, pompous villain. “Part of that is the unpredictability that comes from humor or kind of a showmanship – and you can name any one of these characters, present or past right through the 20th century… and that was something that Chris recognized and it’s something that we sustained through the movie.” Hemsworth has admitted he adopted new methods to play Dementus (Miller encouraged him), such as reading related novels and writing journals while in character. Miller said he never even considered casting Hemsworth for the role but changed his mind after a courtesy meeting.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is now showing in theaters.