Report: Marvel Wants Chiwetel Ejiofor For Doctor Strange
By Nick Tylwalk
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel is looking to add some more serious acting talent to Doctor Strange.
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Not to play the good Doctor, as that honor has already been granted to Benedict Cumberbatch. But THR says Marvel is in the early stages of talks with Chiwetel Ejiofor, who was nominated for all kinds of awards in 2013 for playing Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave.
Who would he be playing? That’s less clear, as THR’s sources disagree on whether Ejiofor would be cast as the main villain, suspected to be Baron Mordu. Instead, the report says he could be Wong (though that would be odd considering the mismatched ethnicities) or the Ancient One, who can probably make himself look like anything he darn well pleases.
Allow us to throw in another possibility: since Doctor Strange isn’t necessarily a straight origin story, maybe the villain is Dormammu, another longtime foe of Stephen Strange. It’s not hard to imagine Ejiofor turning the role into one to remember.
Regardless of who he ends up playing, Ejiofor would be a welcome addition to the cast, and another sign that Marvel movies are being taken seriously by all kinds of actors, even those you wouldn’t necessarily be quick to associate with genre fare. Pairing him and Cumberbatch would make the film intriguing to whatever segment of the general moviegoing public still isn’t big on super heroes.
We’ll see if this one pans out, but it’s an exciting prospect. Doctor Strange is headed our way from director Scott Derrickson on November 4, 2016.