Today's News: multiple directors interested in Marvel's strange project

Another older bit of news from my hand:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154380/meerdere_regisseurs_in_de_race_voor_doctor_strange

If the top boss of Marvel has a personal favorite, it's only a matter of time before said character gets himself a movie. Doctor Strange has been rumoured and reported on for a few years now, so it's about time the project really got going officially. So far most "news" has addressed the issue of who should play the titular character, with many names suggested (most interesting to my ears would be Viggo Mortensen, but fat chance of that happening!), but over the last few weeks the matter of a director has taken precedence instead. Marvel CEO Kevin Feige has so far shot down almost all possible contenders, but not the latest trio of rumoured names up for the gig: Mark Andrews, Scott Derrickson and Jonathan Levine. Each of them has dabbled in the fantastic, the horrific or the supernatural before, so all of them seem like they might fit the bill for directing a film about the Sorcerer Supreme battling various mystical, otherworldy adversaries that seek to claim humanity's souls or its dimensional territory. Levine is known for both horror and comedy (Warm Bodies, 50/50), applying both of them in a decently offbeat approach. Derrickson was responsible for one big winter blockbuster movie (the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still) which did well enough at the box office but proved disappointing for both audience and critics: he has shown more substantial skills in directing horror films though, which is not a bad thing considering the interdimensional terrors and grizzly ghouls among Strange's many antagonists. Andrews has only done one movie and it was animated (Brave), but it was the most lucrative of the bunch and also a definite work of fantasy and sorcery, bordering the substance of Doctor Strange the closest thematically. My money is on Andrews. It wouldn't be the first time a Pixar director went on to do a major motion picture, though the financially disastrous John Carter, directed by Finding Nemo/Wall-E veteran Andrew Stanton, is probably not an example studio execs want to be reminded of. Nevertheless, Andrews brought in the most dough and knows the genre best. However, since Doctor Strange is unlike any other Marvel project, the studio might very well decide to do things differently and pick the least expected director for the job. I gotta admit, the term 'unlike any other Marvel movie' keeps coming back, having prior been used to describe both Thor and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy. The more movies get made that are 'unlike any other Marvel movie', the less impact the phrase carries. With a moniker like 'Marvel', you can always expect the unexpected after all. Doctor Strange may be a weird character, he's no more implausible or odd than Norse gods in present day America or talking interstellar raccoons and trees. Now hopefully Mortensen will see that too and decide playing such a strange role is right up his alley.