Doctor Strange Director Reveals How Close Joaquin Phoenix Was to Joining the MCU

In 2014, Joaquin Phoenix had a brief spell as the frontrunner for Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange. Years before he was cast as the proto-Batman villain in DC’s Joker (a role he’ll uncharacteristically reprise in the upcoming Joker: Folie á Deux), the actor known for less-commercial fare like Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Inherent Vice, and Spike Jonze’s Her was reported to be in talks to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as surgeon-turned-sorcerer Stephen Strange. Phoenix’s potential casting was first reported in July 2014, but by October, the acclaimed actor dropped out of negotiations. Weeks later, Marvel landed on Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch.

But how close was Phoenix to signing a multi-movie deal to headline not just 2016’s Doctor Strange, but followups like Avengers: Infinity War and eventual sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

“I spent some time with him. I spent a couple of long afternoons with him and really was really impressed with him personally and his thought process. This is what I’ll say: I think he was giving, I think he was opening his mind to the possibility. I think he was investigating the possibility,” one-time Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson told /Film. “What happened, just to be clear, we offered the movie to Benedict. I wanted Benedict. That was my choice for the role. I flew all the way to London to try to talk him into doing it. What it came down to was that it was a summer movie, and Benedict had committed to doing Hamlet in London theater.”

“Benedict, he’s a guy with great integrity, and he understood the significance of what the role was and how it could impact his life. But he just said, ‘I’ve said yes to these people. I’ve committed to doing this. I can’t back out of it,’” Derrickson continued. “He just personally wouldn’t do that to the theater and to the director of the show. So I came back from that trip and I was like, ‘We’re not going to get Benedict.’” 

Both Phoenix and Cumberbatch were on a list of reported contenders that included Ryan Gosling (The Fall Guy), Jared Leto (Suicide Squad), Tom Hardy (Venom), Justin Theroux (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Keanu Reeves (John Wick), and Derrickson’s Sinister star Ethan Hawke.

“I met with a bunch of actors, and Joaquin was the one that I spent the most time with. As we continued to talk, it became clear to me that Joaquin didn’t really belong in that movie and probably never belonged in the MCU,” Derrickson explained. “He’s a very specific guy with very specific goals as an actor, and a very specific way of performing. I think it became clear to both of us that this might not be a good fit, really is what it came down to.”

Derrickson added that the potential franchise starter didn’t have a script to present to Phoenix, an actor not known for signing onto franchise movies. Ultimately, Disney delaying Doctor Strange from its original July 8, 2016, release date to November that year enabled Cumberbatch to fulfill his stage commitments and then don the cloak and Eye of Agamotto.

“I think what [Phoenix] was very nervous about was he’d be committing to multiple movies, which is not the kind of thing he’s ever done,” Derrickson said. “I just went back to Kevin [Feige] and I just said, ‘We have to move the date because it’s got to be Benedict.’ Kevin went to [Disney CEO] Bob Iger and [then-Walt Disney Studios chairman] Alan Horn, and told them what I said. To their credit, they moved the date and it became a fall movie.”

In 2018, Phoenix told Little White Lies that Marvel makes “some great, fun movies,” adding of his flirtation with Doctor Strange: “I think everybody was really happy with how things turned out. All parties were satisfied.” Phoenix went on to win his first Oscar for his role as Arthur Fleck in 2019’s Joker.