Anya Taylor-Joy says she was 'thrown into a car' for Mad Max stunts despite not having a driving licence

Anya Taylor-Joy's first time driving a car was when she had to perform a stunt while filming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — even though she doesn't have a driving licence in real life.

"They just threw me in the car and went, you're going to do this. I was like 'OK,'" the actress admitted during a recent appearance on Lorraine alongside costar Chris Hemsworth (via the Daily Mail). "It's fun that the first thing I learned how to do in a car was [stunts]."

She continued: "I have fallen in love with it, I want to get my normal driving licence, I want to get my stunt driving licence. It's a really cool way to learn how to drive."

Anya previously spoke to Entertainment Weekly about jumping in the deep end in terms of driving.

"I still don't have my licence. I haven't been anywhere long enough to get a licence," the actress explained to the publication earlier this month. The star was born in Miami, then grew up in Buenos Aires and London, before travelling the world as a famous actress.

She added, speaking of filming stunts for Furiosa: "It is pretty cool that the first thing I learned to do in a car is a juicy lift 180. I feel pretty secure in that, but I love cars. I love Formula 1. My dad was a power boat racer, so we're just pretty petrol-y as a family."

However, she hasn't always been entirely enamoured with this particular experience, telling Graham Norton in 2022 that filming the stunt was "really crazy and slightly upsetting."

Anya and Chris star in Furiosa alongside Quaden Bayles and Nicholas Hoult, plus Chris' wife Elsa Pataky. The film comes out in cinemas this Friday, 24 May, and has already received rave reviews. It even received a six-minute standing ovation when it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival last week.