It was a big gamble that could have paid off handsomely on a lot of ways, but talks between Marvel Studios and Joaquin Phoenix for the role of Doctor Strange have ended. No deal was formally done, but talks were ongoing and for the past several weeks felt like they were moving forward in a way similar to a lot of other actors boarding Marvel Studios projects.
This puts the studio and director Scott Derrickson back out looking for an actor with talks going on with others, though apparently there’s a huge range of speculation that we’ll see numerous names in the coming weeks that likely aren’t even being approached at all.
Phoenix would have brought a different kind of actor to the leading roles that Marvel has as most of the other actors are familiar enough now, but aren’t generally considered in the same caliber. With most of the deals Marvel makes including upwards of six films to participate in, it’s easy to imagine that as one of the bigger sticking points. But for those who watch how a lot of actors are, Phoenix is the type that you’d be really, really hard pressed seeing involved in Comic-Con, which would be a critical part of the presentation next summer for its 2016 release, as well as just generally how he deals with the entire press junket circuit. Largely staying out of the spotlight with his personal life, a film like this would put it on him constantly for a whole host of reasons.
So now we’re back to who it could be. Time to get your suggestions up again!
