The man who might have been Strange ‘really likes’ Marvel movies.
Benedict Cumberbatch was officially confirmed last week to play Doctor Strange in the upcoming movie from Marvel Studios, but before he signed on Marvel was involved in lengthy discusssions/negotiations with Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix -- talks that ultimately went nowhere as Phoenix passed on the role for reasons that remain unclear (it’s speculated that he was uneasy at the thought of signing one of Marvel’s six-picture contracts).
While doing a rare (for him) morning of roundtable interviews for his new film, Inherent Vice, Phoenix avoided answering directly about Doctor Strange, saying only “I don’t know,” when asked by Nuke The Fridge’s Fred Topel how close he came to playing the role. But when Den Of Geek queried whether he had been uncomfortable with the way the negotiations played out publicly, Phoenix responded, “No, I like all sorts of movies. I know that I typically do dramas that I guess are maybe considered independent, but I like all sorts of different movies and I’m just looking for good characters and big ideas and a great filmmaker, and sometimes the fit is right and that’s it.”
In the end, Phoenix perhaps didn’t think the “fit” was right, but that doesn’t mean he’s dismissive of the films that Marvel is producing. He continued, “Those guys make great movies -- I loved Iron Man, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy. I really like the movies they make, I enjoy watching them. I think they do them really well. The superhero movies are just like, they’re our versions of those great kung-fu movies and I enjoy that.”
So Marvel or Warner Bros. or Fox might just be able to persuade Phoenix to don a superhero costume at some point in the future -- it doesn’t appear he’s closed off to the genre at all. In the meantime, we’ll enjoy Cumberbatch as the Sorcerer Supreme in 2016 and Phoenix himself later this month in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice (more on that soon).
Is there a different superhero you think Phoenix would be the “right fit” for?
Inherent Vice is out in limited release December 12.
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