The Marvel marketing machine is now in full swing, promoting the company’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but, as always, our interests lie more in what’s further down the road. The studio is notorious for planning years in advance, and one film they’ve been talking about for some time now is Doctor Strange. We know Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige is excited about it, and though the movie hasn’t even been officially announced yet, we recently heard that a shortlist of directors had emerged.
Mark Andrews (Brave), Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies), Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) and Dean Israelite (Welcome to Yesterday) were all reportedly in the mix to bring the Sorcerer Supreme to the big screen, and we now have another name that’s been tossed into the ring: Sinister director Scott Derrickson. Check out the official tweet below:
DOCTOR STRANGE update: Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Exorcism of Emily Rose) also in the mix to direct the movie.
— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) March 11, 2014
The first question that comes to mind is: what in the world is Marvel planning with this movie? Just look at that list of directors. They each have very different resumes that don’t necessarily point toward big-budget superhero films, so it’s clear the studio is thinking outside the box with this one. Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing (just look at what the Russo brothers have been able to do with The Winter Soldier or what James Gunn appears to be doing with Guardians of the Galaxy), but it’s just something worth thinking about.
Derrickson’s resume includes films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Hellraiser: Inferno and the supernatural thriller Deliver Us From Evil. Of all the directors listed, he seems a bit of a better fit for a character like Doctor Strange, and could probably do something pretty dark and interesting with the material.
Hot on the heels of this scoop came word that Andrews and Levine are “still on the shortlist,” so does that mean Arcel and Israelite are not? As always, we’ll keep you posted as Marvel’s Doctor Strange gets closer to becoming a reality.