The world of comic books brought to life on the big screen has gone surgical as the headlines are filled with news of classic comic “doctors” and the people that may play and/or direct them.
Beginning with Josh Trank‘s Fantastic Four reboot at Fox. We already know Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell will play the titular “fantastic” heroes, but who will be their nemesis? Apparently the plan is to bring back Doctor Doom, the character previously played by Julian McMahon (remember him?), and The Wrap reports Sam Riley (Control), Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables), Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Domhnall Gleeson (About Time) are the four actors in contention for the role.
I’m sure we’ll have some news soon enough as Fantastic Four will begin production shortly, targeting a June 19, 2015 release.
In other “Doctor” news, when we last heard of Marvel’s plans for a Dr. Strange movie we learned the possible directors included Mark Andrews (Brave co-director), Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair), Dean Israelite (Welcome to Yesterday) and Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies). Today, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit took to Twitter to update the list, adding a name and removing a couple others.
According to Kit, Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Exorcism of Emily Rose) joins Mark Andrews and Jonathan Levine as the shortlist is now, apparently, down to three names.
As I noted earlier, Strange is a character who apparently is a surgeon that suffers a life-changing car accident and eventually heads to the Himalayas, gains psychic powers and saves the day.
When will Dr. Strange hit theaters? Marvel has some placeholder dates with unnamed movies occupying each, those being May 6 and July 8, 2016 and May 5, 2017. Strange would likely take one of those three.
Kit also adds a little more fuel to the Fantastic Four fire suggesting “Boardwalk Empire” star, Jack Huston, is also up for the Doctor Doom role. The Wrap‘s Jeff Sneider mentioned Huston, but wasn’t as definitive about his possible casting as Kit seems to be. Either way, things are in motion.
