Dan Adkins’ two page spread for Doctor Strange #171 is balls-trippingly fabulous.
Dan Seitz isn’t here today, or he would definitely be the one telling you all about Kevin Feige’s comments on Tuesday night at the fan premiere of Marvel’s short film All Hail the King. Feige had lots to say about the ongoing Doctor Strange movie rumors, including important facts like it will have a director and probably also actors:
When IGN asked the Marvel Studios president if any of the director rumors were true (Jonathan Levine [Warm Bodies]; Mark Andrews [Brave]), he said:
Well, that article [from The Hollywood Reporter] was true that we’re meeting a lot of people now. That article was not true about who we’re meeting or what level anybody is. But we’re actively looking.
Dan made a pretty good argument for why David Cronenberg should direct Doctor Strange, and I think if they’re “actively looking,” Cronenberg’s just as good a suggestion as all the other rumored contenders. The only way I’d hate that choice is if it kept him from actually doing that Eastern Promises sequel.
With regards to the latest crazed frenzy to cast Johnny Depp in the title role, Feige commented on the rumor that they’d already met with Depp:
No, no. When you have a project that’s been around as long as Doctor Strange, there is sometimes, “Oh, I’ve met with Stan about this! Or I did that!” So Strange is one of those projects that predates me by a long shot. [sic] Doctor Strange would be our — well, depending on when we make it, it could be our 13th, 14th, 15th movie, right? I think if you’re looking to track our decision-making and how we’ve done things, we have a pretty wide track record now where you can sort of see. So, no, a movie star is not required, but that doesn’t mean a movie star wouldn’t be great. It just depends.
So, there you go. No director yet and no star and probably not any of the people involved that the interwebs thinks are going to be, because, I mean they hired Ken Branagh for Thor, I think Marvel can handle it. More incredible to me than the wishlist somehow going from Joseph Gordon Levitt to Johnny Depp is the continued snubbing of Venture Bros. co-creator Doc Hammer with regards to writing a script. Way back in 2011 he told a room full of press:
I was personally offended that they didn’t contact Jackson and I for the Doctor Strange movie. OFFENDED! Like actually angry! We didn’t write and tell anybody that we wanted to do it, but since they didn’t call us, I’m indignant. Insane! I think that people should be thinking “HOW could we move foward WITHOUT them?” [sic] I have notebooks upon notebooks of ideas for Doctor Strange! I’ve been making that pitch since I was eight years old. I can just walk in to a room and go “Are you ready… for the greatest Doctor Strange movie ever made?” And they’ll go: “We never made a Doctor Strange movie,” and I’ll be like “Yeah, it was a really crappy one.”
They could completely throw out Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer’s script and start over with any of the assuredly funny and screwed up premises Hammer and Publick come up with.