Following Captain America: Civil War, Marvel’s Phase Three slate of movies continues this November with Doctor Strange, the MCU’s first foray into the world of magic. In front of the camera, the mystical blockbuster has accumulated some impressive talent, from Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange to Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo. However, it’s also important not to forget the folks working off camera, like director Scott Derrickson, writer C. Robert Cargill and cinematographer Ben Davis. Now we can add Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino to the list of Doctor Strange’s behind-the-scenes talent.
Giacchino announced he would be scoring Doctor Strange on his Twitter page, commenting that, "Things are about to get, well... really STRANGE." He also tagged Marvel and Scott Derrickson in the tweet, a.k.a. his bosses. While the first Doctor Strange trailer was released last month, it’s unlikely that any of Giacchino’s music was featured in it, especially if he’s just getting started on the musical work. Perhaps we might get to hear some of it in the next trailer, and if not, a sampling of the Doctor Strange tunes will surely come out before the whole album is released.
Michael Giacchino has been a professional composer since 1994. After working in video games for many years, his first major gig outside of that area was scoring the ABC series Alias. His later TV shows included Lost and Fringe, but in 2004, he was hired to score The Incredibles, and since then he’s worked on many other Pixar movies, like Ratatouille, Up (which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score) and Inside Out. Although Doctor Strange is his first Marvel movie, his music has been heard in blockbusters like 2009’s Star Trek (and its sequel), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Jurassic World. Giacchino’s other upcoming projects include Star Trek Beyond, The Lego Batman Movie, War for the Planet of the Apes and The Incredibles 2.
Although Stephen Strange was first mentioned in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Doctor Strange marks his debut in the MCU after decades in comics, animation and even a live action TV movie. Just like his comic book counterpart, Stephen is a talented, yet arrogant, surgeon who gets caught in a car accident that damages his hands and ruins his career. Desperate for a cure, he eventually finds himself in Asia seek help from The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton. Instead, she mentors him in the mystic arts, which will lead to him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme and defending our plane of existence from otherworldly threats. The movie’s other important players include Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, Rachel McAdams as one of Stephen’s fellow surgeons, Mads Mikkelsen as the movie’s main sorcerer antagonist, Benedict Wong as Wong and Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West.
Doctor Strange will cast its spell in theaters on November 4.
