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

14. Why Kathmandu?

The director settled on using Kathmandu because it wasn't quite as familiar as some of the other possibilities. He said the place would suit his agenda to make Strange feel “overwhelmed... at the stimulus of the place and the visual power and uniqueness of it.”

And he also persisted with the location despite a devastating earthquake that hit after they'd scouted and approved areas for filming. He says there was rubble everywhere, but he and Benedict Cumberbatch decided to stick with the location as it they could potentially help re-establish the tourist trade there, as well as hiring locals as extras and crew to help boost the economy.

Derrickson also chose to use Hong Kong “mostly for visual reasons just because of the look of that city.”

13. Derrickson's Favourite Scene

Derrickson says that the balcony chat between Strange and The Ancient One in their astral forms as she's about to die is his favourite scene in the film. He also expresses an attraction to more grounded scenes - like the argument early on between Strange and Christine:

“Every time I would watch this scene cut together in the editing room I felt like I was looking at some indie film that we shot in an apartment in New York. It just has a quality of performance and drama that’s not typical for comic book movies and event movies.”

He also says he learned that from James Cameron on the set of Avatar - where he visited when Cameron was showing off his mo-cap technology:

"I remember him saying that one of the lessons that he learned in doing The Abyss was that he had focused so much on these big giant visual effects sequences that what he was surprised by was that the best scene in the movie was two people and an air tank.”

Though Derrickson is drawn to supernatural stories, he makes sure to ground his characters, and he says the idea of watching a character who is defined by a certain kind of ego-centrism, expertise, money, and success encounter a real, life-changing tragedy was particularly appealing to him.