Doctor Strange Director Shortlist Narrowing Down

[RossaLincoln]

Doctor Strange Director Shortlist Narrowing Down

The hoary hosts of Hollywood are very close to picking the person who'll bring Marvel's master magician to theaters.

You can tell Marvel is absolutely convinced that by the time Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out it will be able to just print money, because it is not kidding around about developing characters no one ever thought would make to film, much less appear in their own movies. The test run is of course going to be Guardians of the Galaxy, but we all know that's going to blow up like the Death Star, which means come Marvel Phase 3 we're getting Ant-Man and Doctor Strange. And all will be right with the world.

Speaking of Doctor Strange, The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit previously also named [https://twitter.com/Borys_Kit] Welcome to Yesterday director Dean Israelite and A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel, though Kit didn't mention the duo yesterday.

To be honest, this list doesn't exactly fill me with the confidence I felt when Shane Black was announced as director of Iron Man 3 and James Gunn was tapped to helm Guardians. True, Mark Andrews sounds like a very interesting choice, but remember that the praise he gets in the wake of Brave ought to be tempered by the knowledge that he only took over about halfway through, after the film's original director, Brenda Chapman, was forced to step down under murky circumstances. I'd bet real money that everything good about that film was good before he stepped in, particularly given how weirdly uneven it ended up being, especially once the second half turns into a completely different movie.

Jonathan Levine also leaves me feeling lukewarm. Warm Bodies is the recipient of far more love than that rather tepid movie deserves, and I imagine it will be largely forgotten 5 years from now. My cattiness aside however, I do think Scott Derrickson is an interesting candidate. Emily Rose is tonally very close to the weirdness and horror underpinnings of Doctor Strange. While I love the lightly comic tone of the the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, a Doctor Strange movie is begging for an Aleister Crowley bent, and while I don't want it to be a humorless pile of DC comic book movie emo, something close to the first issue of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman sounds just right to me. Albeit with the sorcerer as the hero instead of the villain.

Then again, who am I kidding? What I really want is a movie about "Dr." Byron Orpheus. Which is to say, The Venture Bros. need to return with haste.

What do you think about this list? Sound off in comments, and be sure not to awake the dark powers.

Source: IGN [http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/12/update-on-the-shortlist-for-the-doctor-strange-films-directort]

Permalink

 

[CriticalMiss]

I'm more interested in the casting choices than the director. Whether I see the film when it's in cinemas or wait for it online or DVD will probably hinge on who is starring.

 

[JimB]

I don't know. Doctor Strange is one of those characters I've always wanted to like, but could never get into because every time someone decides to launch a new series or miniseries, it's always the same damn thing: it's either a retelling of an origin I already know, or a reimagining of an origin I already know, or retreading the same ground of an origin I already know as Strange begins to lose his powers as he becomes arrogant and forgets he needs to help average people. I'm terribly afraid this movie is going to try to sell me the same old thing once again, this time with Johnny Depp mumbling and gesticulating through the role, and that will be a damned shame.

That is why I want a director I can be confident in. Iron Man had a clear vision and passion for the character that it differed enough from the same old origin story to make it an interesting movie in its own right, and that's what I think a Doctor Strange movie needs. That's why I'm more interested in director than in casting at this point.

 

[RossaLincoln]

That is why I want a director I can be confident in. Iron Man had a clear vision and passion for the character that it differed enough from the same old origin story to make it an interesting movie in its own right, and that's what I think a Doctor Strange movie needs. That's why I'm more interested in director than in casting at this point.

I couldn't agree more. Someone who is as passionate about the material as they need the audiences to be, and also someone who can make the movie as much theirs as part of the Marvel MCU. Shane Black and James Gunn were particularly exciting choices, as is Edgar Wright. These choices feel like studio heads taking meetings with people who are kind of hot right now but that's it.

Also, just because I like being one of the only people willing to say this, Brave is not a very good movie.

 

[The World Famous]

That is why I want a director I can be confident in. Iron Man had a clear vision and passion for the character that it differed enough from the same old origin story to make it an interesting movie in its own right, and that's what I think a Doctor Strange movie needs. That's why I'm more interested in director than in casting at this point.

I couldn't agree more. Someone who is as passionate about the material as they need the audiences to be, and also someone who can make the movie as much theirs as part of the Marvel MCU. Shane Black and James Gunn were particularly exciting choices, as is Edgar Wright. These choices feel like studio heads taking meetings with people who are kind of hot right now but that's it.

Also, just because I like being one of the only people willing to say this, Brave is not a very good movie.

Let's be honest here, Brave was a terrible movie. Maybe Pixar's worse, although it has to duke it out with Cars 2. Brave winning best animated feature that year just proves that the Academy looks at the nominees and says, "Is one of them Pixar? Yes? Okay, give it to that one so we can watch real movies. This one has a plucky young lesbian Jewish girl in Nazi Germany! It's a shoe-in!"

 

[RossaLincoln]

Let's be honest here, Brave was a terrible movie. Maybe Pixar's worse, although it has to duke it out with Cars 2. Brave winning best animated feature that year just proves that the Academy looks at the nominees and says, "Is one of them Pixar? Yes? Okay, give it to that one so we can watch real movies. This one has a plucky young lesbian Jewish girl in Nazi Germany! It's a shoe-in!"

I'm initially inclined to think Cars 2 and Monsters University probably edge Brave out of the running for Worst Pixar feature, but Brave, while technically far better than MU or C2, is perhaps worse because of the horrendous behind the scenes meddling that led to the film's creator and director being driven out of the company and the film clearly being changed halfway through into something far dumber than it originally would have been. Also, the final film contains perhaps the dumbest version of the "never try to be anything different than what you were raised to be/only rebel superficially" aesop. Also, it's telling that we're talking about the three most recent Pixar films as the studio's worst. The number of sequels its producing is a bad enough sign, but good god they've lost the touch.

Point: Mark Andrews would almost certainly guarantee a very broey, very by the book Doc Strange movie.