Anya Taylor-Joy "tried not to take on the pressure" while filming 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'.

The 28-year-old actress plays Imperator Furiosa in the new 'Mad Max' movie, and Anya feels she was under scrutiny because she was following in the footsteps of Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in 2015's 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.

The actress told Sky News: "I tried not to take on the pressure, only because you get paralysed with fear, like you can't do anything, but I fell in love with Furiosa through Charlize and I feel like the character is so important that it just made me more adamant to fight for the humanity of her."

Director George Miller acknowledged that Charlize, 48, was a tough act to follow.

But the acclaimed filmmaker was wowed by Anya's performance in the new movie.

George said: "Anya has this presence and power. Halfway through the shoot [I noticed she was] no longer Anya, she was Furiosa."

Anya stars in 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' alongside Chris Hemsworth, and the actress recently hailed Chris as "the most wonderful" co-star to work with.

She told Access Hollywood: "I think we’re so lucky that our relationship is nothing like the characters in this film, because making this film wanting to kill your co-star would be really difficult.

"He’s just the most wonderful, kind-hearted, big-hearted individual. We have a lot of fun. [I’m] very lucky."

Similarly, Chris loved his experience of working with Anya.

The actor explained: "We had a rehearsal, and immediately I had the sense of how passionate you were about the character and fiercely protective of the character that she was, which only helps everybody else on set.

"Everything I was doing was then informed by Anya’s decisions."