Doctor Strange interview: Benedict Cumberbatch explains how and why he also played Dormammu (exclusive)

Marvel Studios’ ‘Doctor Strange’ arrives on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Monday giving us another chance to delve into the MCU’s most fantastical movie to date.

Benedict Cumberbatch made his Marvel debut as Dr Stephen Strange, the brilliant neurosurgeon turned mystical sorcerer, but did you know he also played Dormammu – the dreaded overload of the Dark Dimension confronted by Strange at the film’s climax?

“[I did] the voice and face [of Dormammu]”, Cumberbatch explains in our exclusive new interview above.

“I felt that it would be a nice twist to have this realm reflect something of Strange. So there is supposed to be… it’s not just me doing it because the other actor can’t make it. It was me going like ‘well, I think it would be a nice idea to have something mirroring him in the true sense of nightmares’.

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“The identity of a monster, if it’s just fixed, is kind of like ‘well, huh, that’s what it looks like now’, whereas if it’s some sort of weird – and it is, it’s a silvery reflection – if you look closely there are facial expressions that are similar to Strange. So that was the idea.”

This isn’t the first time the ‘Sherlock’ star has taken on dual roles in a movie having also appeared as both Smaug and the Necromancer in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’, and once you know it’s him, you can definitely hear him in the booming voice of Dormammu.

Elsewhere in our interview we asked Benedict whether he sees himself still playing Doctor Strange in 10 years time, and he refused to commit. We know he’ll return in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ but beyond that, he’s not sure.

“It’s not necessarily the duration that I know much about,” he confided.

“All I know is what was pitched to me which was how he was going to develop into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I’m really excited about that. We’ll see how it plays out in ‘The Avengers’, and it’s exciting. As far as the duration, you never know. We’ll see.”

We also spoke with Rachel McAdams who plays Strange’s long-suffering former flame Dr Christine Palmer about how the amazing surgery scene was filmed, and you can watch that interview in full below.

Marvel Studios’ ‘Doctor Strange’ out on 3D Blu-ray™, Blu-ray™ &; DVD on 6 March 2017. Available on digital download from 24 February 2017.

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