Benedict Cumberbatch as DOCTOR STRANGE almost wasn't a thing… or at least that's what Marvel would like for you to believe at the moment as they ratchet up the attention they're willing to allow the masses to give to the Sorceror Supreme heading into the new year (probably to draw our eyes away from CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR for a little while until it's turn to get that hype going right before May).
Based on Kevin Feige's comments to EW (this guy is everywhere right now), you would think though that Cumberbatch was their top choice the whole time, and they really had to make it work in the end in order to land him for the role.
He was someone that we were very interested in for a very long time. [But] he kept getting more and more popular! [Laughs] Which is not [essential] for us. Chris Pratt was not popular when we cast him in 'Guardians [Of The Galaxy]'. That’s not a prerequisite needed for us casting [someone]. But he kept getting more popular, and more popular, and he kept getting busier, and busier, and it looked like the timing wasn’t going to work. So we looked at some other actors for a while and ultimately decided, ‘We have to try and make it work with Benedict and with his schedule.’ Which is why we shifted the production schedule around. He finished Hamlet here in London, and I think had a day off, and then went to Kathmandu, Nepal, to shoot the first day of 'Doctor Strange.'
I like how Joaquin Phoenix is now a part of "some other actors," rather than the guy they really tried to convince to take the role right around Comic-Con.
Look… I get it. You want all the focus to be on the guy you ultimately did get, making him sound like the top prize you could have ever landed, rather than the guy you didn't score… but is there really that much of a need to revise history? We know about the courtship. We know it didn't work out. Both sides moved on, and no one is harboring any grudges from that. In the end, we're at where we're at and that's it. No need for spin on this one… but it's going to be there anyway.
DOCTOR STRANGE works his magic into theaters on November 4, 2016.