Neil Gaiman reflected on his and Guillermo del Toro’s pitch for a strange doctor film.
Years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was created with Jon Favreau Iron Man, Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro had an interest in bringing Doctor Strange to life on the big screen. So much so that they even pitched an idea for the film to Kevin Feige.
Neil Gaiman is currently enjoying great notoriety thanks to Netflix’s adaptation of his famous comic book series, The sand man. With renewed interest in his work, some are understandably curious how projects with the world’s biggest franchise, Marvel, may have crossed paths with him. Well, during an appearance in Josh Horowitz Happy Sad Confused podcast, he reflected on his pitch for this would have been directed by Guillermo del Toro:
“Kevin and I have spoken a few times over the years about things. The only one I wish, though, the odds are probably, I think the way they did it commercially was better than… but I remember back in 2007, having minimalist conversations with Kevin Feige about “And about Doctor Strange?” Then talking to Guillermo del Toro, and Guillermo and me having these ideas about Doctor Strange and starting the beginning, me starting the beginning of the conversation with Kevin about “I could do Doctor Strange with Guillermo.” And basically they said ‘We just want to focus on the main characters right now. Doctor Strange is top of the line, we don’t want to go there. ‘”
Neil Gaiman also revealed what kind of Doctor Strange story he and Guillermo Del Toro were coming up with:
“There were some cool things in it. My favorite thing about Doctor Strange was the idea of… the only thing we really wanted to do was have his adventures, have him become an alcoholic and a disbarred doctor, all that kind of stuff, happen in the 1920s. So the idea is, he went through all of that and training to be the greatest magician in the world in maybe the early 30s, late 20s, and he’s been living in Greenwich Village for 90 years, he looks the same at home, and no one really notices. We just liked that idea, and he would have run out of time. But other than that, it would have been very nice of Steve Ditko, because, you know, he’s the best.
Here is the synopsis of Multiverse of Madness:
The MCU is unlocking the multiverse and pushing its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to face a mysterious new adversary.
Directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay written by Michael Waldron, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams.
Multiverse of Madness is available now on Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD 4K Ultra HD, and is also streaming exclusively on Disney+. Be sure to continue following Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news on the future of Neil Gaiman and Guillermo del Toro, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more original video content!
Source: Happy Sad Confused (via TheDirect.com)
