Director of Photography Ben Davis teases the crazy aesthetic of the film:

It has a very psychedelic grounding, and it’s not your typical Marvel action movie … Most of the work within it is about other dimensions. And I described it, I think, when I was talking to Marvel, as Marvel’s Fantasia, in a way, because it’s so sort of out there and different to everything else that they’ve done.

It’s a very dark movie, I’m pleased to say … DPs always love the word ‘dark’. The trouble is that most producers don’t like dark. Mostly you get into DI [Digital Intermediate process] and people don’t seem to like dark anymore!

There’s a lot of pre-visualisation, and there’s a lot of work which is very hard – you look at it and you see the imagery that they’ve created for it and you think, ‘Well how the hell do we shoot that!?’ because it’s all sort of Escher stuff. It’s all very out there. I can’t really say much more about it, I’m afraid. But I think it’ll be really interesting.

‘Doctor Strange’ Eyes ‘Hannibal’ Star Mads Mikkelsen to Play Villain (EXCLUSIVE)
August 27, 2015 | 12:10PM PT
Justin Kroll
Film Reporter @krolljvar

“Hannibal” star Mads Mikkelsen is in early talks to play one of the villains in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, Variety has learned exclusively. While sources say no offer has been delivered, one is expected shortly. Marvel had no comment on Mikkelsen’s involvement.

Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor are on board to co-star. Scott Derrickson is directing the comic book movie from a script by Jon Spaihts. Marvel’s Kevin Feige will produce.

Cumberbatch will play Stephen Vincent Strange, a former neurosurgeon who becomes the next Sorcerer Supreme and primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. Marvel Comics artist Steve Ditko created the character in 1963. Swinton will play Strange’s mentor, the Ancient One, while Ejiofor will appear as Baron Mordo, who also studies magic under the Ancient One in the comic books, before becoming Doctor Strange’s nemesis.

Mikkelsen’s exact role remains under wraps, but sources say he will be another antagonist to Cumberbatch’s titular sorcerer.

“Doctor Strange” will debut on Nov. 4, 2016, with production set to start late this year.

Marvel has been interested in Mikkelsen for some time, at one point courting him for the villainous Malekith in “Thor: The Dark World,” until Mikkelsen won the role of the titular cannibal in NBC’s “Hannibal” and was no longer available. The Malekith role eventually went to Christopher Eccleston.

If accepted, this would be Mikkelsen’s second high-profile role in the wake of “Hannibal’s” cancellation — he’ll also appear in “Star Wars: Rogue One,” which will hit theaters on December 16, 2016. He is repped by UTA and Art Management.

Rachel McAdams will star in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, the actress told TheWrap Monday.

Cumberbatch is set to star as Dr. Stephen Strange alongside Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo. “Hannibal” star Mads Mikkelsen is being courted for a villainous role.

Scott Derrickson is directing the comic book movie, which is slated to start shooting in November. Disney will release the film on Nov. 4, 2016.

McAdams’ involvement has been rumored for weeks, and the actress has not been shy about confirming she had discussions with Marvel as early as July.

In August at Disney’s D23 fan convention, Marvel boss Kevin Feige said that “Doctor Strange” will “continue to push the boundaries of [Marvel’s] cinematic universe” following “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Ant-Man.” Feige didn’t have footage to show for “Doctor Strange,” which doesn’t start shooting until November, but he brought a video of concept art from the film as well as a videotaped message from Cumberbatch, who apologized for being unable to attend D23.

- See more at: http://www.thewrap.com/rachel-mcadam....jOfpGEYY.dpuf

Doctor Strange is gearing up for production to begin in November, but there is still much that is unknown about the new Marvel standalone movie.

I had a chance to speak with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige prior to an event promoting the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron on Blu-ray (a Q&A after it revealed great new information on Spider-Man, Infinity War and the connections between the movies and TV shows). During our interview, he opened up about why Doctor Strange is going to be an origin story.

"For some reason people sometimes talked about how we're not doing an origin story, we're bored of origin stories. I think people are bored of origin stories they've seen before or origin stories that are overly familiar," Feige explained. "Doctor Strange has one of the best, most classic, most unique origin stories of any hero we have, so why wouldn't we do that? That was sort of always the plan. How you tell that origin, perhaps there are ways to twist it or play with that, but for the most part, it's a gift when the comics have something with such clarity of story and of character. That doesn't always happen in the comics, and when it does, you use it."


Because Doctor Strange is going to be dealing heavily with concepts only touched upon in other Marvel movies -- like the Quantum Realm, which was introduced in Ant-Man -- I asked Feige which character will serve as the eyes of the audience to introduce them to this film's new world. "Strange, for sure," he said. When prompted about what purpose Rachel McAdams' unspecified character will serve, Feige noted that she's the audience's eyes "to a certain extent."

"She plays a very, very big part in the movie and represents a certain point of view of the worlds that we experience in that movie, but Doctor Strange, without a doubt, is the character we follow through the movie," said Feige.

Talk also turned to the gender of the Ancient One, considering in July Tilda Swinton said she didn't know whether she would play the character as a man or a woman. (The concept art Disney showed at D23 seemed to depict her as female, though the Ancient One is male in the Marvel Comics.)


Casting Swinton for the part, Feige said, meant "we get an amazing actress to play an amazing character, and do it in a way that's very unique and doesn't fall into any outdated stereotypes that sometimes pop up in the comics from years past. It's funny you ask 'Will Tilda Swinton be playing a woman?' and you ask it because she does an amazing job of being sort of ambiguous in terms of gender. I think you'll see us playing it in ways that she's played other characters that way. Clearly she's a woman, but it is very ambiguous in her portrayal."

Doctor Strange is due in theaters on November 4, 2016.