Quaden Bayles, the Indigenous boy with dwarfism whose battle with bullying touched the world, has been pictured attending the premiere for his latest Hollywood film.
The 13-year-old’s latest role is in the Hollywood blockbuster Furiosa, the fifth Mad Max film in the Aussie movie franchise, playing War Boy alongside Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy.
Quaden caught up with his fellow Mad Max: Furiosa actor, Chris Hemsworth, at the premiere of their movie at Sydney’s State Theatre on Thursday May 2
Quaden (left) on set as War Boy in the latest Mad Max film, Furiosa, with his co-star Anya Taylor-Joy (right)
The film, which was released globally on March 23, is the second George Miller directed film the Brisbane teenager has been cast in.
His first film, Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, was released in 2022.
Furiosa, the fifth film in the Max Max series, tells the backstory of Fury Road’s fearsome heroine Furiosa, played in the earlier movie by Charlize Theron.
The premiere was held in Sydney on May 2nd, and Quaden was spotted on the red carpet with the film’s major stars.
Furiosa Director George Miller revealed how he was moved to put Quaden in front of the camera after his mother, Yarraka Bayles, posted a distressing video of her son on Facebook in February 2020.
In the video, Quaden, who was born with a type of dwarfism known as achondroplasia, was shown sobbing uncontrollably and asking for a knife to kill himself after being bullied at school.
At the start of the five-minute clip, Ms Bayles said: ‘I just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal and I want people to know this is the effect bullying has. This is what bullying does.’
‘So can you please educate your children, your families, your friends because all it takes is one more instance… and you wonder why kids are killing themselves.
‘We try to be as strong as positive as possible and only share the highlights… but this is how bullying affects a nine-year-old kid.’
The viral video caught the attention of celebrities from around the world who threw their support behind Quaden and his family’s fight against bullying.
Hollywood superstar Jackman posted a video on Twitter in which he said: ‘Quaden, you are stronger than you know, mate. And no matter what, you’ve got a friend in me.’
The 13-year-old (pictured) has been in demand while he promotes his latest film
Quaden first came to the world’s attention after his mum filmed and posted him upset and wanting to kill himself after he was bullied at his primary school
The young actor walked the red carpet for the George Miller directed film, rubbing shoulders with his famous co-stars, including Chris Hemsworth
The Wolverine actor went on to urge his fans to ‘please be kind to each other’.
Miller was also affected by the video and according to Good Weekend was upset by a suggestion by News Corp columnist Miranda Devine that Ms Bayles might have coached Quaden.
Devine, who repeated claims the video might be a scam, later apologised and reached a settlement with the Bayles family ahead of Federal Court action.
Miller, who trained and worked as a doctor before becoming an Oscar-winning filmmaker, recognised Quaden had not been acting.
‘What the hell would she know about that?’ he told Good Weekend of Devine’s comments. ‘That really fired me up.’
Ms Bayles shared the original video of Quaden in a bid to raise awareness about the impact of bullying.
She said at the time that while she would have preferred to keep such a harrowing moment private, she felt she had no choice but to go public.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call Lifeline: 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
