Joaquin Phoenix Concept Art By AndrewSS
by: S. Scott Stanikmas
It seems as though Joaquin Phoenix will not be saving the world from mystical threats after all.
It was announced around the middle of summer that Phoenix was the front runner to play Doctor Strange for an upcoming Marvel movie. Recent reports state that the negotiations have now fallen through and the Master of the Mystic Arts will be played by someone else. Other actors that have been rumored for the role are Ethan Hawke, Jack Huston, Edgar Ramirez, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy.
Joaquin Phoenix was always a strange (pardon the pun) choice for this role. It’s not that I don’t think he could handle it. I’ve always enjoyed him as an actor, most recently The Immigrant alongside Marion Cotillard. It’s just that lately he’s been steering away from more commercial fare and focusing on roles that resonate with the art house crowd.
So now director Scott Derrickson is on the search for a new Stephen Strange. I have all the faith in the world that Derrickson will give us an excellent movie no matter who is chosen to play the leading man. Having seen his previous efforts in Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and given the source material, I have no doubt that we’ll get a moody and atmospheric picture.
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Joaquin would really have been excellent, but I am afraid he really couldn’t be tied down to something of this caliber.
I really have never seen him act in a movie I didn’t like. The Master is pretty genius.
He’s a great actor, but I couldn’t picture him in something like this. It just didn’t feel like something that would interest him.