It can’t be easy to step away from a Marvel project. A tremendous amount of work goes into the making of these movies, and knowing how much they typically make once they hit theaters, the filmmakers involved know they're putting something together that the whole world will tune into. However, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson decided to hand off helming the sequel back in 2020 after he and the studio did not agree on the vision for the sequel, Multiverse of Madness. As the movie’s marketing rolls out, fans are starting to wonder how Derrickson feels about Sam Raimi’s upcoming movie.
As it turns out, he’s digging it like the rest of us. Scott Derrickson took to Twitter to share his reaction to the latest Doctor Strange 2 trailer:
The trailer is great and of course I’m excited! I love Sam — he was the right director for this one, just as The Black Phone was the right film for me to go make. All is good. https://t.co/hksv0pDcPeFebruary 14, 2022
Multiverse of Madness may be the one that got away, but Scott Derrickson has a solid perspective on his decision two years after exiting the project. Derrickson shared that he thinks Sam Raimi was the “right director” for the sequel, and is grateful he got to make his horror movie The Black Phone in its stead.
Scott Derrickson made the first Doctor Strange movie in 2016 and was all set to go for round two with a script and everything. It was described as the “first scary MCU movie” when it was announced at San Diego Comic Con, and who better to helm that than the director behind Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil. However, as the movie continued to develop, Derrickson and his collaborator C. Robert Cargill cited the exit as “creative differences.” According to Cargill, Derrickson “wanted to do one movie” and “Marvel wanted to do another.”
Things all worked out in the favor of both parties considering Scott Derrickson got to venture back to his horror roots and make The Black Phone, which is coming this summer. The movie stars Ethan Hawke as a horrifying serial killer in an adaptation of a Joe Hill short story, and its trailer looks like it could be one of 2022’s best horror movies.
Scott Derrickson has worked with many of the actors in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and is a colleague of Sam Raimi’s, who is also well known for his horror movies. So why wouldn’t he cheer him on? It sounds like the passing of the Doctor Strange torch came about really amicably, Plus, Derrickson is still reportedly an executive producer on the Doctor Strange sequel.
Multiverse of Madness also allows Sam Raimi to come back to the superhero genre for the first time since the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. And while it may not be a straight-up horror movie, according to Elizabeth Olsen, who is reprising her role as Scarlet Witch in the film, it’s a “very scary” movie. We’ll see for ourselves once the next upcoming Marvel film, Doctor Strange 2, hits theaters on May 6.
