\u201cAs a kid, he was one of my favourite comic books,\u201d the 62-year-old director tells me over Zoom.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe it had to do with the fact that I was an amateur magician, and Doctor Strange was a magician superhero. So it was kind of like a fantasy for me, to become a superhero as a magician. But mostly I love [Benedict Cumberbatch\u2019s] portrayal of the character. I love how complex he made him, and where he and [director] Scott Derrickson left the character \u2013 he still had a lot to learn, and a lot to grow to, to be a complete human being, as the picture ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very easy thing to come back into the movies, and take on the job of telling his next adventure.\u201d<\/p>
In other words Marvel called, Raimi answered. But it feels like there must be a little more to the story than he\u2019s initially willing to offer. After all, until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness the once-prolific Raimi hadn\u2019t helmed a film in nearly a decade, with 2013\u2019s Oz the Great and Powerful (starring James Franco as a younger Wizard of Oz) the last time he sat in the director\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n
From his early beginnings in horror in the early 80s through to his work on Spider-Man and beyond, Raimi had directed a film every couple of years through his career until Oz the Great and Powerful \u2013 after which he just seemed to stop.<\/p>\n
Instead, recently Raimi has worked more quietly as a producer (and directing some short episodes for ill-fated streaming service Quibi) keeping out of the spotlight as the superhero genre he helped innovate with his Spider-Man trilogy grew to dominate the multiplexes. Clearly, something made him step back, and something made him return \u2013 so what happened?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t exactly have a proper answer for you, because it\u2019s not clear in my head,\u201d Raimi says eventually. \u201c<\/em>But I\u2019ll tell you that after Oz I needed some time off.\u201d<\/p>\n Oz wasn\u2019t a flop by any means \u2013 it made back its budget and more \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t a huge hit either, grossing less money than many had hoped and attracting tepid reviews. And clearly the process of making the massive, high-budget film had an impact on Raimi, who decided to take a step back after its release.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to not repeat myself,\u201d he says now. \u201cI wanted to have a hunger for [directing] again, and approach it like a student making their first film.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what led Raimi to more producing work, which he says he treated as an apprenticeship of sorts \u2013 an apprenticeship to re-learn a craft that had already netted him acclaim and massive box office numbers over three decades in the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cI needed to learn again,\u201d he insists. \u201cAnd I absorbed a lot from directors that I was producing. I\u2019d see what they were doing with their dailies. I would see how they were directing actors, and take tips from them, and learn what not to do, and watch how they would let the camera roll when I would have called \u2018cut\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they got a little bit better of a performance, from letting that happen. I was wondering why they asked for an extra take, and then realising when I saw the performance why they did. So I opened myself up again,\u201d he says. \u201cI spent a lot of time in the garden, and just had to recharge my batteries, and try it again for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen that call came in [for Doctor Strange] I thought, \u2018I love that character, and actually I\u2019m ready for this right now. I feel recharged and ready to go.\u2019\u201d<\/p> ![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/05\/Dr-Strange-cast-c16aefe.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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