Marvel Studios has released (via EW) a first-look Doctor Strange photo featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as the superhero. The magazine’s cover shoot with Cumberbatch was one of the very first times the actor tried on the costume and he used the shoot as something of a research-and-development session for the gesticulations which are part of his character’s spell-casting.
“I’m still in the infancy of learning all that,” Cumberbatch said. “It was like, okay, I’ve got to keep throwing these poses, these spells, these rune-casting things, everything he does physically. I’m thinking, there’s going to be a huge amount of speculation and intrigue over the positioning of that finger as opposed to it being there, or there. And I’m still working on that. We haven’t played any of those scenes yet. I felt really self-conscious. But, then, by the end, it was great. It’s like anything, you just have to experiment.”
Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead with Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as Baron Mordo, Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive) as The Ancient One and, in undisclosed roles, Rachel McAdams (The Vow), Michael Stuhlbarg (Pawn Sacrifice), Scott Adkins (The Bourne Ultimatum), Amy Landecker (“Transparent”), and Mads Mikkelsen (“Hannibal”).
Scheduled to hit theaters November 4, 2016, Doctor Strange is scripted by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus, Passengers) and directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Deliver Us From Evil). It is said to follow the story of neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.
