Oscar-winner Charlize Theron has called for science fiction film-makers to stop misrepresenting women as she praised her new film Mad Max: Fury Road for delivering a vision of the future featuring strong female figures.

Speaking on the US talk show Live! With Kelly and Michael, the South African actor said playing the shaven-headed, one-armed Imperator Furiosa in George Miller’s reimagination of his own cult vision of post-apocalyptic Australia had been a breath of fresh air.

“I’ve always wanted to explore the genre a little bit more, especially because I think it’s such a misconception that women don’t like the genre, or that they don’t want to go and see these movies,” she said. “I just feel like women have been so misrepresented in these films – why do we have to go and see the genre every single time with the girl in the back of the frame in a push-up bra? Why isn’t there a girl that’s standing on the same playing field with the guys?”

Added Theron: “We don’t want to be guys, but in a post-apocalyptic world, we will survive! There’s something really, really nice about playing this woman who is a woman, first of all, but is a rogue warrior just like Max, and can fight just as well as Max with one arm.

“I think all the women — there’s a lot of women in this movie, like three different generations of women in this story, and I think they’re represented really well. And they kick butt.”

Miller’s film, which sees Britain’s Tom Hardy taking over from Mel Gibson as road warrior “Mad” Max Rockatansky three decades after the release of 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, has so far attracted rave reviews from critics. With a current rating of 97% “fresh” on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, it is on course to be one of the year’s best-received genre films.

Mad Max: Fury Road will receive an out of competition European premiere this Thursday at the Cannes film festival before hitting cinemas worldwide the next day.