Quaden Bayles has landed a role in the forthcoming movie Mad Max: Furiosa.
The 11-year-old indigenous Australian boy earned the support of celebrities, including Hugh Jackman and Cardi B, when his mum posted a Facebook video of him saying he wanted to “kill himself” after he was bullied for his disability.
Now, Bayles has been cast in a small role in George Miller’s prequel to his post-apocalyptic 2015 blockbuster, Mad Max: Fury Road.
The news was announced on Saturday (20 August), in an interview published in The Sydney Morning Herald.
“It was good for us and it was good for him,” Miller told the outlet. “And he did such a good job that he’s got a small role in Furiosa.”
The film is being touted as Australia’s biggest production ever, with The Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy set to play the lead role, which was played by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba, and Chris Hemsworth are also set to star in it.
Bayles was born with achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism characterised by short stature, a normal-sized torso, and short limbs.
In the 2020 viral video live-streamed to raise awareness of the impact of bullying, Bayles can be seen crying in the back of his mother’s car asking for a knife to kill himself.
“This is what bullying does,” his mother said in the since-deleted video. “Can you please educate your children, your families, your friends?”
Mad Max: Furiosa is expected to release in cinemas on 24 May 2024.
