Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange has come to home video including DVD, Blu-Ray, and Disney Movies Anywhere. The release is chock full of amazing bonus features including a fun look ahead to the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Three. But the most exciting thing about the release is that we get to learn some fun behind-the-scenes facts about the inspiration and creation of the film.
Here are ten fun facts that I learned from the home video release of Doctor Strange.
The movie’s visual style was conceived as an homage to the early Steve Ditko issues of the Doctor Strange comics. Scott Derrickson says that Ditko’s work would be considered progressive even today.
The team behind the film had scouted to shoot in Nepal, but they reconsidered after the devastating earthquake destroyed many of the locations they intended to use. Derrickson and Benedict Cumberbatch decided it was important to film there to help contribute to the city’s rebuilding efforts.
Addressing the casting controversy of having Tilda Swinton portray the Ancient One, Derrickson said he wanted to distance the role from the stereotypes that were portrayed in the comics of having an ancient Asian man mentor the white hero. Derrickson said the first way he created separation was by having the Ancient One be a woman. He still wanted to not have a “dragon lady” archtype so he decided to make the character Celtic.
One of the dimensions that Strange enters at the beginning of the film is the Quantum Realm as seen in Ant-Man.
They pushed back the release date of Doctor Strange as Benedict Cumberbatch was their first choice but he was committed to playing Hamlet. After meeting with other actors, the creative team decided it was better to spend the cost of delaying production to accommodate their first choice.
Originally Derrickson considered make comic villain Nightmare the antagonist of the film, he decided that there was not enough time to give the classic Doctor Strange foe his due.
The scene where Doctor Strange is being taken care of by Dr. Palmer while Strange’s astral form is looking on was inspired by the Doctor Strange limited series The Oath. It was the scene that Derrickson wrote to get hired for the film.
The Stan Lee cameo was actually shot on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Stan Lee filmed four cameos at one time in Atlanta. The shot, while conceived by Scott Derrickson, was directed by Guardians’ James Gunn.
Having the cloak wipe away Doctor Strange’s tears was Benedict Cumberbatch’s idea.
Derrickson says that the Walt Disney quote, “I don’t make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures.” describes Marvel Studios.
Doctor Strange is available everywhere now.