As per usual in Marvel land, as "Doctor Strange" begins coming together, a plethora of rumors are swirling. There’s already of a grab bag of possible directors, but no buzz has been juicier than reports that Johnny Depp was being approached for the title. But as these things usually go, almost immediately after it was announced, word came in that talk was either premature or that the intel itself old news, and not worth bothering with. And now Marvel honcho Kevin Feige has weighed in on the Depp as Doctor Strange debacle.
"Well, that article [from The Hollywood Reporter] was true that we’re meeting a lot of people now. That article was not true about who we’re meeting or what level anybody is. But we’re actively looking," he told IGN. Moreover, he cautions anyone thinking that just because Depp’s name was thrown in the ring, that the studio is necessarily looking for an A-lister.
" ‘Doctor Strange’ would be our — well, depending on when we make it, it could be our 13th, 14th, 15th movie, right? I think if you’re looking to track our decision-making and how we’ve done things, we have a pretty wide track record now where you can sort of see," Feige explained. "So, no, a movie star is not required, but that doesn’t mean a movie star wouldn’t be great. It just depends."
So basically, chill out folks and let Marvel do their thing and don’t try and guess their motivates, because they’ll always be a step ahead.
Meanwhile, over at Warner Bros., Deadline reports they are pushing on with "Sandman" starring and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (once rumored for "Doctor Strange," fyi). Jack Thorne, the writer behind U.K. fare like "Skins" and "This Is England ’86 and ’88," as well as films "How I Live Now" and "A Long Way Down," has been brought in to pen the adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s work. It’ll be a considerable leap in scope and scale for the writer, as he tackles the story of Dream, a personification of dreams who is imprisoned by an occult for 70 years and unleashed upon the modern world to wreak his revenge and rebuild his kingdom. But clearly they think the’s got the goods.
No release dates on either of these movies, but that won’t stop further chatter as they continue through development.