Doctor Strange: 22 Secrets Revealed By The Director's Commentary

18. Mads Mikkelsen Wanted To Learn Kung Fu

Derrickson says that Mads Mikkelsen "was like a kid in a candy shop on this movie because he always wanted to be in a kung-fu movie.” The actor was in fact more intrigued by that aspect of filming even than by his character's motivations:

"...When I told him he was going to have to train for the fight scenes” his excitement grew ten-fold saying “That’s all you had to say, I’ll do it, I’m in.”

And that enthusiasm was useful when it came to the stunt-work; Mikkelsen loved the wire work and crucially was also good at it, to the extent that Derrickson says he "did almost all of his own stunts" during the hallway fight sequence.

17. It's "About A Mother And Three Sons"

Though he's very clear on how he feels about creating a single over-arching theme in his movies (it shouldn't be that easy, and if you can state such a theme, there's no point making the film), Derrickson does also say that his Strange story is basically the tale of a mother and her three sons.

Mordo is the good son, Kaecilius is the bad and Strange is the new son that The Ancient One brings into her life in an attempt to atone for her failures with Kaecilius. Which sort of makes you sympathise with Mordo feeling a bit left out.