Screenwriter Jon Spaihts explains that one particular character 'needs to come out' of the movie to make him/her 'anything but helpless.'
- Nov 9, 2016
AceShowbiz - Jon Spaihts has revealed the reason why one key character in Benedict Cumberbatch's "Doctor Strange" needs to be killed. Speaking to Eric Eisenberg of Cinema Blend, the screenwriter said that it's important to kill off [SPOILER ALERT!] Tilda Swinton's The Ancient One in the movie, so that she could be "anything but helpless."
The Sorcerer Supreme's mentor was depicted as a seemingly-helpless sorcerer in the comic book series, while Spaihts wanted to make "mighty, if not slightly mightier" The Ancient One in the big-screen version. He said, "There's a very strong argument there for taking The Ancient One out of the picture, because The Ancient One was always a problem in 'Doctor Strange'."
The scribe continued, "In theory, as Doctor Strange's teacher, The Ancient One should be at least as mighty, if not slightly mightier - and yet Doctor Strange is always being called upon to rescue and save The Ancient One. [In the comics] he's not a very effective Sorcerer Supreme, that Ancient One!"
Spaihts went on to compare the issue to that of author Madeleine L'Engle had to deal with when writing the beloved novel "A Wrinkle in Time". "I think of it as the 'Wrinkle in Time' problem, where Meg and Charles go to rescue their father, who is lost in a cosmic world," he elaborated.
"And then they finally do rescue him, and you instantly have a problem, because either he's 'Dad' and now he's in charge, and these heroes who you've been following are shoved to the back; or he's oddly helpless, and you have 'Emasculated Dad.' And Emasculated Dad isn't good," Spaihts added, "So that parent story often needs to come out of that story to let the heroes be themselves. And I think The Ancient One is an instance of that."
"Doctor Strange" also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen and Rachel McAdams. While the movie is currently in theaters, director Scott Derrickson recently teased a potential sequel and said that he would like Nightmare to be the main villain. "I really like the character of Nightmare and the concept that the Nightmare Realm is a dimension," the helmer said.
