‘Doctor Strange’: Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Conjuring Powers And Willfulness To Overcome


The Doctor Strange movie, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, will be coming to theaters in November. This will be an origin story of how Stephen Strange gets to be the Sorcerer Supreme in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, one needs to learn all the ropes of the mystical realm and The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, is available to fulfill that mission.

Cumberbatch spoke with Entertainment Weekly regarding the willfulness of his character and how he has reached rock bottom in the movie. Benedict doesn’t acknowledge Doctor Strange as a superhero because of what he adorns on his body, but pays mind to his willfulness and ability to endure.

“This man reaches the very bottom and then more. You think, How much more can this guy take? He’s broken, he gets up again, he’s broken — and that’s really what makes him a superhero. A lot of people have asked me, ‘What makes him a superhero?’ That’s really the answer I should have given. It’s not the Cloak of Levitation. It’s not the Eye of Agamotto. It’s about his staying power. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. The guy endures so much.”

Speaking of which, Cinema Blend speaks of what the audience could bear witness to when it comes to Strange’s ability to endure as far as taking on the challenges in learning his craft via The Ancient One, Baron Mardo, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Wong, played by Benedict Wong. Not only the good guys will be offering up these challenges, but Doctor Strange will be taking on Kaecilius, played by Mads Mikkelsen. So it looks like a tough road ahead and audiences will see for themselves how the willpower of a superhero will endure.

Like in the comics, Doctor Strange is a former arrogant surgeon who loses is ability to ever operate again due to a car accident. The movie trailer shows this and then he is seen taking a journey to see The Ancient One. Heroic Hollywood mentioned that he’s a “safe” choice for the role and references Cumberbatch’s Imitation Game movie which share similar nuances of the Stephen Strange character Benedict is attempting to portray.

Benedict Cumberbatch was thought to be the proper choice according to director Scott Derrickson as he felt no one else could pull off the character portrayal, according to Games Radar.

“It had to be Benedict. I mean I don’t think there’s anyone else that could have done this, certainly at the level he did it. I think it’s the ability to play a character deeply flawed. In this case, a character who starts off at the height of egocentricity and is brought down and falls from grace very hard and very fast very early in the film.”

With Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch sounds like he impressed the director enough to demonstrate the superhero climbing back out of his “fall from grace” and audiences will see this. Also, regardless of the imagery and special effects, Scott says it’s really a movie about a man trying to “overcome himself.”

It would seem that both Benedict and Derrickson are on the same page of how Doctor Strange is portrayed.

The movie trailer has an Inception-like feel to it based on the special effects, but considering alternate realities and multiverses are something that Stephen Strange contends with in the comics, it would be an interesting and unique take on what kind of turn the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take when encountering multiverses.

Doctor Strange will contend with mystical villains and will help protect Earth and other universes against other foes. The movie opens in theaters come Nov. 4.

[Photo by XPX/STAR MAX/IPx /AP Images]

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