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Since the MCU’s boom in the 2010s, the cinematic giant under Kevin Feige’s leadership has avoided bringing in auteurs, given its collaborative structure, in which the director often has little to add. Although there have been exceptions, the most notable being James Gunn’sGuardianstrilogy, for the most part, the MCU has leaned toward journeyman directors, who, as per reports, mostly worked as a vessel for the studio execs.
However, this wasn’t always the case, as Feige famously gave Jon Favreau the leeway to use improv forIron Man. But beforeIron Man, Feige apparently passed on the idea of a Guillermo del Toro-ledDoctor Strangemovie, which would’ve been very different than its modern counterpart.
Kevin Feige turned down Guillermo del Toro’s Doctor Strange to focus on core characters
Since his early days in the realm of showbiz,Guillermo del Torohas displayed a fascination with monsters, whether it beCronosor the reveredHellboymovies. So it’s easy to see why he proved to be a great fit to helm theBladesequel, and interestingly, Neil Gaiman, notable forThe Sandman, wanted to bring Del Toro to helm an MCU movie about Doctor Strange. Unfortunately, Feige wasn’t too thrilled about this pitch from Gaiman.
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But it didn’t have to do anything with the reports of Feige’s alleged controlling demeanor over filmmakers (viaThe Nation), instead, it was the timing, as Gaiman recalled the MCU head didn’t want to delve into Strange that soon (viaHappy Sad Confused).
[They] just want to concentrate on the core characters right now. Doctor Strange is way up the line. We don’t want to go there.
By the timeBenedict Cumberbatcheventually made his MCU debut with 2016’sDoctor Strange, the story was a far cry from what Gaiman had in mind for a Del Toro-led version.
Guillermo del Toro’s Doctor Strange would’ve been a period piece
WhileDoctor Strangeproved to be a decent addition to the MCU, Gaiman wanted his story to be based in the 1920s. Elaborating on it,The Sandmancreator detailed that his pitch saw Strange as an alcoholic and disbarred physician, who would’ve become the world’s greatest magician in the ’30s and would’ve resided in the“Greenwich Village for 90 years looking the same in his place.”
So the idea is that he went through all of that and the training to become the world’s greatest magician maybe in the early ’30s, late ’20s, and he’s been living in Greenwich Village for 90 years looking the same in his place, and nobody really notices. We just sort of liked that idea, and he would have been sort of out of time. But other than that, it would have just been very sort ofSteve Ditkobecause, you know, that’s the best.
Hopefully, moving forward,Kevin Feige‘s MCU will stray away from its producer-driven approach to movies, and allow more leeway to writers and directors, something thenew DCU is prioritizing.
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Doctor Strangeis available to stream on Disney+.
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2539
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
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Guillermo del ToroKevin Feige
