Back in 2020, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson took to social media to announce that he was no longer set to helm Marvel Studios' planned sequel, In The Multiverse of Madness.
No reason for the parting of ways was given beyond the usual "creative differences," but since the filmmaker was to remain on board as an executive producer, it was assumed that the split must have been amicable enough.
Now, The Black Phone director has elaborated on his reasons for stepping away from the project, and while he is still adamant that no ill feelings were/are involved, he does admit that, had he stayed on, he probably would have ended up making "a monstrosity."
“All I can say is that what we said publicly is exactly the truth,” Derrickson tells The Playlist (via ComicBookmovie.com). “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.”
At the time, there was speculation that Derrickson's vision for a Doctor Strange sequel was more horror-focused, and he went on to confirm that his take was an “extreme departure from the first film,” and would have been “a genuine horror film of sorts.”
Of course, Evil Dead director Sam Raimi, who took over from Derrickson, did inject some horror elements into the movie with Zombie Strange, etc, but it sounds like Derrickson's ideas may have been a little too scary for Marvel!
Even so, the director says he's still on good terms with the studio, and went to the In The Multiverse of Madness premiere - although, perhaps tellingly, he doesn't actually say what he thought of the film!
“Yeah, I went to the premiere. I’m still friends with Kevin [Feige] and everything with me and Marvel is really cool. They invited me to the premiere and I went. And I’m friends with Sam [Raimi]. I love Sam, so there’s no bad blood over that.”
What did you make of Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Are you curious about what Derrickson's version of the sequel would have been like? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.