Boy Bullied For Dwarfism Gets Role In New 'Mad Max' Movie 1:22
(CNN) --
Quaden Bayles, an indigenous Australian boy who gained the support of celebrities and people around the world after being bullied for his disability, has landed a role in the new "Mad Max" movie.
Award-winning director George Miller cast the 11-year-old in a small role in the film "Furiosa," a prequel to his 2015 post-apocalyptic blockbuster "Mad Max: Fury Road."
Miller revealed in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Weekend magazine, published on Saturday, that he was moved to put Bayles on the big screen after seeing the harrowing video his mother shared in February 2020.
Quaden Bayles, bullied at age 9, paid his price for effusive support
The Queensland boy, born with a type of dwarfism known as achondroplasia, will also star opposite Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton in Miller's upcoming film, "Three Thousand Years of Longing."
"It was good for us and it was good for him," Miller told the
Sydney Morning Herald
.
"And he did such a good job that he got a bit part in Furiosa."
CNN has reached out to representatives for Miller and Bayles for further comment.
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In the viral video from 2020, Bayles appears crying inconsolably in the back of his mother's car as he asks for a knife to kill himself.
"This is what bullying does," her mother, Yarraka Bayles, said in the video, broadcast live on Facebook to raise awareness of the impact of bullying.
"Can you please educate your children, your families, your friends?"
The video also caught the attention of celebrities, including Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who posted a video on Twitter telling Bayles, "Whatever happens, here's a friend."
"Quaden, you're stronger than you think, mate," Jackman said.
"Everyone please be nice to each other. Bullying is not okay, period."
-- CNN's Helen Regan contributed to this report.
BullyingDiscriminationDwarfism