Let’s get a one thing out of the way first: there has been no official announcement of a Doctor Strange movie. That’s important to remember, especially as nearly every Marvel movie has been announced in advance of any reports of directors, writers and casting.
Two days ago the big rumor was that Johnny Depp was up for the role and that seems likely because of Depp’s long history with Disney, as well as…you know, being one of the world’s biggest movie stars. It’s like saying they’re considering Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Will Smith for the role. These are the kind of names on the top of everyone’s wish list, but it doesn’t make it any less of a rumor.
Now ThisIsInfamous.com reports that Jon Hamm is up for the role in an “exclusive” story.
And for all the conjecture that’s been thrown out about who’d be a good fit in the role, all the jockeying for inclusion in the blossoming MCU by actors and their representation and all the non-stories about meetings that went nowhere, our sources indicate to us that the guy Marvel has set up to play Doctor Stephen Strange is none other than JON HAMM.
I’m not sure what it is about this story that rings false to me, but it does. Not the idea of Jon Hamm playing the character or the unnamed sources. Maybe it’s this:
Hamm’s calendar is letting up at the perfect time with his time on MAD MEN coming to an end, with AMC running the first half of the show’s final season this year with the series wrapping up completely by 2015, and for all the talk of Hamm being the best choice for a number of superhero roles that have come up in recent years from Superman to Batman, fans can finally get excited that he’s a match for one that is about to become very important.
Johnny Depp was never a serious candidate for the role and neither was Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whose name seems to be linked with anything Marvel that comes down the pipeline and had been floated around online in recent months as being a DOCTOR STRANGE possibility.
What I get from that is this (and maybe I’m wrong): This is happening because Jon Hamm’s schedule allows for this and he’s been linked to super hero films in the past. Johnny Depp wasn’t a serious candidate because he’s been linked to too many super hero films in the past.
So one of the reasons Hamm is getting the role is the reason why another actor isn’t? Protestations against other actors feel strange in an “exclusive” announcement of casting, but maybe that’s just the nature of scooping something before an official announcement is made. And again, I don’t disagree with the basic premise of that argument (see above!), but I don’t understand what feels like a slightly defensive double standard.
Scoops are an interesting thing and the author is putting himself out there by making this kind of an announcement. I guess I just need more to this story before I start jumping up and down on the couch.