Doctor Strange: 22 Secrets Revealed By The Director's Commentary
Guess which villain they almost used...
MCU fans should already be well aware that Scott Derrickson pulled off a hell of an achievement with Doctor Strange, announcing a whole new strand of genre film-making within the mainline of Marvel movies. Kevin Feige will have been as delighted as purist fans of the comics who got to see an authentic vision of Steve Ditko's iconic comic art made by a director who effuses passion.
And now there's further opportunity to revel in that passion thanks to the Director's Commentary that has just been released as part of the Doctor Strange blu-ray. Derrickson actually reveals that he recorded the audio commentary before the film hit cinemas. Which is pretty brave given that it could have stunk, but then this is Marvel, so he probably had cause to be confident. Plus he does say that “you can’t rely upon critical reactions or box-office to tell you whether or not you did a good job.” Sounds like DC talk... Don't @ me.
The track is full of tasty morsels of information and new revelations, like Derrickson saying he felt there were only three core elements needed from the comics: Strange's origin, his meeting with the Ancient One and his intro to sorcery. He also has a great theory on why we all seek wonderment:
“I think every artist feels that way to some degree. I think every scientist feels that way to some degree, people who explore and venture into discovery, we all feel that way. I think people who don’t do that for a living feel that way and need things like art and science to show them what they don’t under stand or to give them a sense that the world is a wondrous and magical place.”
Profound. Here's everything we learned from the Doctor Strange director's commentary...
Honourable Mention
Thanos' Plan In Infinity War
Thanks to another Special Feature on the Doctor Strange blu-ray, there's a revelation from Avengers: Infinity War co-screenwriter Stephen McFeely concerning Thanos’ plan in Infinity War. It's vague, but he seemingly purposefully leaves out mention of Death...
“His goal is to re-balance the universe as he sees it. So when he figures out that the Infinity Stones could do this for him at the snap of a finger, that becomes his main goal.”
Does that mean we won't see an appearance by Lady Death as in the Infinity Saga comics arc? That would be a shame, but you can sort of see why they'd go in that direction.