With ‘Doctor Strange‘ having been released in the UK yesterday there are a ton of details showing up online and one such detail is that Benedict Cumberbatch plays a second character in the film. Now, I have to warn you, there are some huge spoilers ahead so if you are in the US and want to go into the film totally surprised I would turn back now. We’ll be talking about the third act from the film so this one is a biggy and something you’ll want to avoid as we’ll be talking about a couple surprise moments.
Still with me? That means you’re either in the US and don’t care about spoilers or in the UK and have seen the movie but have no idea who Benedict Cumberbatch ended up playing as a second character. That’s all right! It isn’t clearly obvious or even in the credits but director Scott Derrickson has opened up as to what happened.
So, at the end of the film we see Mads Mikkelsen’s Kaecilius summon the Dread Dormammu who fans of ‘Doctor Strange’ will instantly recognize as his most long term villain that is an ongoing credible threat. Well, that is where Cumberbatch shows up. According to Derrickson:
“The voice was a British actor whose name I don’t know, and Benedict – Benedict did the facial capture for it.”
So Cumberbatch is playing against himself there. This isn’t a case like Thanos where they just hadn’t cast him yet either. He was asked specifically about that and says:
“No, no, it wasn’t that at all. We knew it was an all CG character, but as we were in production Benedict brought it up as an idea. He said, ‘What would you think about me doing it?’ I said, ‘Let me think about it, you know.’
“It’s an interesting idea, because I did fancy the idea that as this other-dimensional being he’s not moving through the Dark Dimension, with a countenance, with eyes and a face, eyes and a mouth, and a human visage – why would he? He takes that form on to communicate with Strange.
The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. Because no one understood Dormammu better than Benedict did. I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him.There’s something interesting about this confrontation of this little, tiny guy who has this power of time and this monstrous conqueror who is trapped by a clever gambit. There’s something about that worked well, and I didn’t think anybody to interact with Benedict than he, himself.”
It is an interesting take on having Dormammu played as the ultimate version of a Doctor Strange gone wrong. It isn’t how the two usually face off but could be quite fitting for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
Are you happy to hear that Cumberbatch ended up playing the leading hero and villain in ‘Doctor Strange’ or should have this gone to another actor? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
Synopsis:
From Marvel Studios comes “Doctor Strange,” the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he is forced to look for healing, and hope, in an unlikely place—a mysterious enclave known as Kamar-Taj. He quickly learns that this is not just a center for healing but also the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying our reality. Before long Strange—armed with newly acquired magical powers—is forced to choose whether to return to his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.
“Doctor Strange” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt and Scott Adkins, with Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton. Scott Derrickson is directing with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Charles Newirth and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Jon Spaihts and Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill wrote the screenplay. Join Strange on his dangerous, mystifying and totally mind-bending journey when Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange” opens in U.S. theaters on November 4, 2016.
Source: IGN
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
