Benedict Cumberbatch is pulling double-duty for Doctor Strange, IGN reports. The identity of Cumberbatch's second character is a big spoiler for the movie, so read ahead with caution. You've been warned.
The Doctor Strange movie actually has a secondary villain, the Dread Dormammu. But as for who played him, nobody was listed in the movie's credits. Director Scott Derrickson revealed that Cumberbatch, who also plays Doctor Strange himself, had a part in bringing the villain onto the screen.
"The voice was a British actor whose name I don't know, and Benedict – Benedict did the facial capture for it," he said. I feel sorry for that poor forgotten voice actor, but the tidbit about Cumberbatch is certainly interesting.
According to Derrickson, Cumberbatch was the one who suggested the role. "We knew it was an all CG character, but as we were in production Benedict brought it up as an idea. He said, 'What would you think about me doing it?' I said, 'Let me think about it, you know."
"The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea because no one understood Dormammu better than Benedict did," Derrickson said. "I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him.There's something interesting about this confrontation of this little, tiny guy who has this power of time and this monstrous conqueror who is trapped by a clever gambit. There's something about that worked well, and I didn't think anybody to interact with Benedict than he, himself."
Doctor Strange will premiere in theatres on November 4.
It's impressive that Cumberbatch would jump to take on two roles like that. What do you think of the news? Are you excited about Dormammu?
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