The “Mad” men of “Furiosa”: Meet Chris Hemsworth's Dementus and Tom Burke's Praetorian Jack

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga may be an origin story for its title character — first introduced in 2015's Fury Road — but it wouldn't be a Mad Max film without some, well, particularly mad men.

And while Max Rockatansky isn't one of those this time around (outside of a quick cameo, that is), Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) does encounter two men on her journey to becoming Imperator Furiosa that are pivotal to her development, albeit in totally different ways. Here's what you need to know — no spoilers! — ahead of the release of Furiosa on May 24.

Dementus

Chris Hemsworth stars as Dementus, a plundering warlord with a sick sense of humor who leaves death and destruction in his wake. His vicious Biker Horde steals Furiosa from her safe and abundant life in the Green Place of Many Mothers and commits an unforgivable act against her that spurs Furiosa's quest for vengeance. He later takes her to Immortan Joe's Citadel, and the two battle it out as Furiosa plots her revenge — and, hopefully, her way back home. Though Joe is the main villain in Fury Road, Dementus is more of a concern for Furiosa in this film. As Hemsworth tells Entertainment Weekly in our latest cover story, "She’s trying to kill me this whole movie.”

The role is a far cry from the superhero or action star stints he's become known for, and Hemsworth admits the part "scared the s---" out of him. With two weeks to go before filming started, Hemsworth says he realized, “I don't really have a handle on the character. And I don't quite have all the confidence that I would normally have walking into this.” But, after journaling in character and getting to the root of why Dementus "was doing [things] and why he'd become that,” Hemsworth figured it out.

From there, the hair, makeup, costumes, and his prosthetic nose all helped him slip into character. Dementus is meant "to be this historic-looking Roman figure,” says Hemsworth. "And [director George Miller and I] talked about certain statues and imagery through history of emperors and so forth. And there was something about the bridge of the nose and his pronounced posture that informed [the character]," he says, adding that it was also a way "to get away from who I was."

He continues, "I haven't had a character that has provided me the opportunity to do that to that extent. And it was really fun. It is nice to look in the mirror and not quite recognize who's staring back at you. And it then kind of influences everything you do."

Praetorian Jack

Strike star Tom Burke's character, Praetorian Jack, couldn't be more different than Dementus. When Miller first met with the English actor, he described the role as "noble" and "heroic." Based on his recent work playing a number of “lousy people,” Burke tells EW he was "almost moved to tears" when he heard those words. "I'd convinced myself that I'd be playing somebody probably fairly grotesque and covered in boils ... maybe you wouldn't even see most of me, I'd be sort of inside an old, rusted-up, converted, pimped-up washing machine or something," he says. "I just thought, 'Oh, here we go.' I mean, obviously, I was excited, but I was really happy that it was [not that]."

Burke worked closely with Miller to create a backstory for the character, who fittingly shares a name with the “praetorian” soldiers who served as bodyguards for the Roman emperor. "George's idea, which is alluded to in the script, is that Jack is very much from a military family and that they perhaps knew Immortan Joe before he was the Immortan Joe, and that there was a journey to the Citadel and a certain idea of what that life might be that was very different from what it turned out to be, and sort of charting how that happened," Burke explains.

Jack is the driver of this film's War Rig — a role Furiosa will take over in Mad Max: Fury Road — and is considered a Fury Road legend in the Citadel, and to a young Furiosa. One of the film's most impressive, full-throttle stunt sequences involves Praetorian Jack, Furiosa, and the infamous Fury Road, which was so awe-inspiring to shoot that Burke says he told his director and the stunt team, "I will do this forever. This is heaven.”

He won't say much more about his dealings with Furiosa in the film but does tease about their relationship: "I think it gives a really nice context to some of the dynamic she has with Max in Fury Road."

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Related content:

• Hitting the Fury Road: Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth go inside Furiosa, their full-throttle Mad Max prequel

• Chris Hemsworth says he threw the superhero rulebook 'out the window' for Furiosa

• George Miller provides update on his plans for the future of the Mad Max franchise

• See all the photos from Entertainment Weekly's Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga cover shoot

• Anya Taylor-Joy shares her reaction to how her character loses her arm in Furiosa

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.