Sam Raimi’s background as a horror auteur and his trailblazing work in the superhero genre made him a solid choice to tackle Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after Scott Derrickson vacated the director’s chair in 2020. Marvel was already planning on using the film to highlight the horrific consequences of messing with space-time. And who better to sit behind the camera than the Evil Dead maestro himself? To offer a glimpse into Raimi’s vision for the sequel, Marvel (via IGN) has released a new featurette highlighting unseen behind-the-scenes footage.
“I got a call from my agent saying that Kevin Feige and the Marvel team were looking for a director for the new Doctor Strange movie,” recalled Raimi. “And I was a big fan of the first one—it was really intelligent and interesting. So, when that offer came in, I thought, ‘This would be a really good challenge.’”
The video also features interviews with Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen, both of whom have nothing but glowing things to say about working with Raimi on the sequel. Cumberbatch took note of his “legendary” standing among comic book fans thanks to his original Spider-Man trilogy. But Olsen also observed his penchant for delivering a “terrorizing cinema experience” loaded with tension and jump scares.
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Additionally, Feige reiterated that the sequel was always meant to showcase the multiverse’s more “frightening” aspects. That’s why it was crucial to nail all of the film’s technical elements. And according to Raimi, these should really pop in other theatrical formats as well.
“Telling the story was such a gigantic endeavor,” added Raimi. And there’s a lot of dimensionalized visuals that we use in telling that story. We shot it with an eye toward that. So I think it’s going to be a very exciting experience to go to 3D.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on May 6.
Are you excited to see what Raimi brought to the sequel? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Doctor Strange Vol. 1: The Way of the Weird
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