Roman Coppola Still Open To Making DOCTOR STRANGE, Neil Gaiman And Benedict Cumberbatch Need To Be Involved

Roman Coppola revealed a couple of weeks ago that he was once attached to make a live-action Doctor Strange film back in the days of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four. His vision never did make it to cameras and the company eventually created Marvel Studios to control quality. Roman has become a very accomplished screenwriter earning an Oscar nomination this year for co-writing Moonrise Kingdom with Wes Anderson. He previously worked as second unit director on films such as Dracula (cutting his teeth in the horror genre) and Lost In Translation. While promoting his new film Charlie Swan (which he directed) he commented if on he'd still be interested in making Strange to FlickeringMyth (via CBM). Marvel recently announced that the occult superhero would apart of their Phase Three lineup.

“Nowadays it’s over saturated with so many comic book movies. It has lessened in my mind. In the past, 15 to 20 years ago, when I talked about Doctor Strange most of the comic book movies were terrible. They’ve [I’m speaking of the Marvel Universe] managed to make them more true to the spirit of the comics as I recall reading them as a boy. If someone said to me, ‘We’d love you to do Doctor Strange. Run with it. What’s your take on it?’ I’d be delighted to have a shot at that but it seems that many comic book movies are made with a certain mentality that pervades all of them. If I had my choice I’d rather do an individualistic than a factory movie but you never know. I’m open to whatever adventure comes my way.” 

I'd love to see Coppola direct theres another name I'm dying to see get involved. That is legendary comic book writer/novelist Neil Gaiman. He's been invovled with the development of the Strange film back when Guillermo del Toro was attached to direct. Neil was tasked to come up with a script which ultimately also fell-threw. He's obsessed with Steve Ditko (who created Strange)  participating in Jonathan Ross' Searching For Steve Ditko documentary. Gaiman has enough geek credibility like Whedon to bring a faithful but cinematic take on the Sorcerer Supreme. His novel Stardust was adapted into a film by Matthew Vaughn. Gaiman wrote screenplays for Beowulf and Coraline along with two episodes of Doctor Who. Having Gaiman do re-writes on the existing script written by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Donnelly or at least consulting is a must.

There has been rally to get Benedict Cumberbatch cast in the lead role. It's not hard to see why he would be perfect for the role with his series Sherlock amassing such a loyal international following. Not to mention film credits that include in Star Trek Into Darkness, War Horse, Atonement, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug/There And Back.

Roman Coppola Wanted To Make A Pre-Marvel Studios DOCTOR STRANGE Movie

During an interview with MoviePilot (via ThePlaylist) writer/producer/director Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom, Charlie Swan, Darjeeling Limited) reveals he once worked on a Doctor Strange film over a decade ago. He mentions speaking with Stan Lee on and developing concepts for it. Apparently, this happened before there was respect for the company during the era of Roger Corman's horrible Fantastic Four flick.

”You know, I did [have the desire to make a superhero movie], but I could again. I was a huge comic book fan comic book fan growing up, within reason. I was a fan of Spider-Man and all that stuff. Actually, I met Stan Lee 15 or 20 years ago when Marvel had the worst reputation for their adaptations. They had made a really terrible 'Fantastic Four' movie and some other things," Coppola explained. "I met him with my dad and we said, ‘Oh, wow, I wish we could be involved. How great would it be to make a really accurate version of one of these films?’ I had the aspirations to make a 'Doctor Strange' movie, which I worked on quite a bit. I ended up coming out on the other side, since I told someone I was working on a comic book movie and they said, ‘Do you really want to work for a studio to get pushed around for three years and not make something that’s personal?’ To make a movie like that where I could really use my sensibility would be fantastic. That type of work now is a product, and there’s a manner in which it’s made. Now I think it’d be better to spend those three years to do something better.”

While Roman is best known as a writer and is currently nominated for an Oscar for his work with Wes Anderson on Moonrise Kingdom. He's also been working a second unit director for years and making commercials. Those productions included Dracula, Virgin Suicides, Lost In Translation, Life Aquatic, Marie Antoinette and Darjeeling Limited. He recently shot an Avengers themed Farmers Insurance commercial, so he might still be in mind for the studio. The current Doctor Strange film has a script which was rumored to have gone out to directors back in 2011. It's expected to be apart of the Phase Three lineup and "could" be introduced in Thor: The Dark World (ala Black Widow/Hawkeye/Fury).

French Poster For 'MOONRISE KINGDOM'

Poster For Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom