Not to state the obvious, but you don’t hire Sam Raimi to direct a movie that isn’t going to be a Sam Raimi movie, which in turn has left many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans wondering what original Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson had up his sleeve before he departed the Sorcerer Supreme’s sequel.
Given his background in telling intense tales of terror – never mind the fact he admitted in an interview with The Playlist that he was planning “an extreme departure” that would have been “a genuine horror film of sorts” – it’s fascinating to ponder what would have happened had the studio gone all-in on crafting a certifiably spooky superhero story.
Either way, Marvel didn’t lose any sleep after Multiverse of Madness rocketed to $955 million at the box office, and Derrickson remains on good terms with the superhero sandbox’s key players. Continuing to reflect on his exit, the filmmaker made an excellent point about how making compromises at the expense of creativity never works out to the benefit of either party.
“All I can say is that what we said publicly is exactly the truth. We had real creative differences. You know, the movie I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it was different than – it was just increasingly obvious that we were pulling against each other. And that’s how you make a really bad movie, I think. When the producer or the studio and the filmmaker are making different movies, you end up with a monstrosity and, you know, that’s why I had to bounce.”
Werewolf by Night saw the MCU dip its toes into the waters of horror, so maybe one day the comic book juggernaut will decide to take the plunge on a full-blown feature. If it does, then perhaps Derrickson could be just the person to do it justice.
