Chris Hemsworth: Furiosa’s Lord Dementus Is a ‘Real Departure’ From Thor

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ‘s Chris Hemsworth explains how his villainous turn as Lord Dementus was a refreshing break from his iconic portrayal as the MCU ‘s Thor .

“Yeah, it was a real departure, and it was nice…” Hemsworth said of Lord Dementus in an interview with Entertainment Weekly . “I was about to say it was nice not to wear a cape, but…I did have a cape in this film. And it’s red — or it becomes red eventually, as well. The absurdity of that.”

“It’s not intentional to be a comparison of Thor,” Hemsworth reflected on playing Lord Dementus, “but I found a wonderful departure to it. To play the villain, transform, and inhabit a completely different physicality was a lot of fun. I loved it. And it was the real attraction.”

Hemsworth revealed how Furiosa’s legendary director George Miller was the primary reason he signed on to the Mad Max prequel. Additionally, the MCU actor’s attraction to the Dementus character allowed him “to dirty it up and to be messy and ugly and violent and chaotic, rather than being in the somewhat predictable box of the hero in a superhero space.”

“There’s a whole lot of rules that you have to stick to [with superhero films],” Hemsworth said. “With this, I could throw that out the window, which was nice.”

What is Furiosa about?

Set 15 years before the events of Mad Max: Fury Road , Furiosa stars Anya Taylor-Joy in a tale that sees the future war captain caught in the middle of a battle between two warring tyrants in the Wasteland. The movie stars Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth alongside Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Nathan Jones, and Angus Simpson. Miller directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Nico Lathouris.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens in theaters on May 24.