It's kind of weird to meet people that grew up in films who are still in touch with reality.
Kevin FeigeI do think that as I said before the canvas of action sequences and the way in which the sequences unfurl will be very unique and will be different than any movie we've made before, and that's what makes it interesting, what makes it [Doctor Strange] special, and what makes it worth pursuing, and worth bringing to life for the first time.
Kevin FeigeMost obviously it [Doctor Strange] will introduce a new character who will be in play in the universe, but once you have gotten an audience to buy into a new concept then it's fun to keep, to play-off, or spin-off that concept down the line.
Kevin FeigeThe super-powered girlfriend for [Doctor] Strange wasn't in the first issue. There's a lot of backstory required for her, which is one of the reason we didn't go that way. There's so much to set up in this. I think it's always a huge mistake when you throw the kitchen sink and everything in the first movie.
Kevin FeigeClickbait is the worst. That's my big moral highground, when I don't click on clickbait.
Kevin FeigePeople say 'Scott's [Derrickson] movies are kind of scary, is this a horror movie?' Of course, [Doctor Strange] it's not a horror movie. But what Scott has done so well in the best of his films is have one foot completely in the real world and one foot in this whatever supernatural sub-genre he was playing with.
Kevin FeigeI think it's human nature to go and to watch things that are done, and see the flaws, but I cannot think of anything that we would want to go so far as to completely change or redo to be honest with you. I think there are characters, you look at the Thor: Ragnarok trailer, there are characters that can evolve and can continue to change and grow throughout.
Kevin FeigeWhen you get into individual characters certainly there's been things that have been updated .
Kevin FeigeThe more films we make the more we get to deal with those pre-existing relationships. But when it comes to a movie like Ant-Man or Guardians or certainly Doctor Strange, it's just bringing to life stuff that's already been there in the comics and we finally get a chance to do it on the big screen.
Kevin FeigeWe have audiences that seem to be embracing whether they've heard of the characters or not.
Kevin FeigeI think those with knowledge of the comics may expect things that will not be happening in the movies. Those who don't know what has happened in the comics will be shocked at what we do.
Kevin FeigeI don't know that a movie like Doctor Strange couldn't have been the second or third film we made. I don't think we're doing anything in that requires past viewing, as opposed to Civil War which we wouldn't have done as the first or second movie because so much of that film is based on the pre-existing relationships between the characters.
Kevin FeigeThe funny thing is I showed my daughter E.T. recently, and she was like, it's Pete's Dragon. It's a boy, who makes friend with a creature, and has to say goodbye at the end. I'd never made that connection!
Kevin FeigeI have a notion that there's a Star Wars out there waiting to be made, and I'm not sure it's the next Star Wars. I think it's something else that will be fresh and original.
Kevin FeigeI do think we've looked at this film [Doctor Strange] not with any direct genre comparison but as a play on the supernatural genre. Certainly more so than we've done in the past, which is what makes his journey from person that doesn't wear a cape to person who does wear a cape - cloak, much more unique than we've seen in the past.
Kevin FeigeOnce that Gauntlet is on, as the poster of Doctor Strange says, "the impossibilities are endless."
Kevin FeigeI'm not a huge comic book fan, but I'm a closet fan of certain Marvel heroes, two of those being Iron Man, and the other being Guardians of the Galaxy, which I'm looking forward to.
Kevin FeigeLet's use that to make as interesting and different and unique a story as possible and not just stay with the same thing.' And this movie is certainly the embodiment of that.
Kevin FeigeThe Avengers films, ideally, in the grand plan are always big, giant linchpins. It’s like as it was in publishing, when each of the characters would go on their own adventures and then occasionally team up for a big, 12-issue mega-event. Then they would go back into their own comics, and be changed from whatever that event was. I envision the same thing occurring after this movie, because the Avengers roster is altered by the finale of this film.
Kevin FeigeWe put in all the great ideas that can be brought into the film [Doctor Strange] in the service of introducing the world to an audience who's never heard of it and doesn't know it from a hole in the wall. And we thought that an inter-dimensional girlfriend that's the daughter of an inter-dimensional demon-esque creature was a step too far in introducing this world.
Kevin FeigeThe only thing I'll say, and I'm sure everyone says this, is stick with it. I'm not shy about telling people about the fact that my dream was to go to USC film school when I was growing up in New Jersey. I got rejected five times. You just keep going, keep going, keep going.
Kevin FeigeBeing authentic in the way you'll see today on the sets [of Doctor Strange] that Charles Wood has designed for us, being authentic in filming, as we did for the first week on production on this in Nepal and in Kathmandu. It was important to us to make it feel like these were real locations and real things.
Kevin FeigeWe are fortunate to have such an esteemed filmmaker join the Marvel family. The talents Ryan [Coogler] showcased in his first two films easily made him our top choice to direct 'Black Panther.' Many fans have waited a long time to see Black Panther in his own film, and with Ryan we know we've found the perfect director to bring T'Challa's story to life.
Kevin FeigeI think that's there are a couple of reasons for that. One is as you're introducing the fourth and fifth versions of these MacGuffins that we've been playing with for a long time, you wanna do something different with them and not just have them be an object passed around. So the notion that something is inherent in the literal body of one of your lead heroes is interesting. And the idea that the Eye of Agamotto's a great relic over the course of Doctor Strange comics anyway.
Kevin FeigeI was making Marvel Studios movies, Amy Pascal was running Sony. Occasionally, she would share drafts with certain people at the studio and I would read them, and see cuts of the movies. But what I've learned with is that I'm no help whatsoever giving passive comments on other people's projects.
Kevin FeigeI don't know if it was written off in that single line in Thor. It was given another way of looking at it. There are a couple of lines in Thor basically saying that science and magic it gets to a point where what's the difference. And I think we're continuing that.
Kevin FeigeWhen we bring the filmmaker, we bring somebody to help us elevate the material with those things, to help us do something different with all of those resources at their disposal.
Kevin FeigePeople who know and read comics know that there's a huge diversity amongst the types of stories. Nobody ever goes 'how many more of these movies based on novels are there going to be?!'. People laugh at that question and they go novels, there are all different types of novels. But there are all different types of comic books, they just happen to have drawings on the cover!
Kevin FeigeI'm not a scientist. I just read articles that are interesting and that capture my imagination, but I think there's a reason why there's so much faith placed in science.
Kevin FeigeWe do not want to repeat ourselves [in Doctor Strange] or do what's been done before necessarily, and when you have a track record now you can either do that and keep, this seems to work and let's keep doing this - which some people accuse us of no matter what, because I don't think they pay attention, but really what we do is say, 'Okay, we have a studio that trusts us and let's us do what we want for the most part with the creative.
Kevin FeigeIn the past that you should choose a list of female action superhero movies that haven't worked. I don't believe they haven't worked because they had a female in the lead, I believe they didn't work because they weren't good. They weren't technically well done movies.
Kevin FeigeYou've heard me talk about the quantum realm in Ant-Man which was certainly designed for that movie and for that story to take the notion of somebody who has the ability to shrink to another level we've never seen before, but as we were doing that, and studying it and talking to the science advisors who are always more than willing to spend an afternoon with us and talk about these amazing things - the quantum realm is another dimension.
Kevin FeigeI don't think it's a mistake to put every great idea into the first movie, because I've always said there won't be a second movie if you go 'we'll hold back these ideas for another one.
Kevin FeigeThere's nothing more disheartening than seeing a movie and going oh, that doesn't work, or it didn't inspire us. Versus seeing a movie that is 'this is so awesome!'. Oftentimes, a really good movie just inspired you to go and make movies!
Kevin FeigeI think [Doctor Strange] it is - it does tap into a supernatural type of genre that is not horror.
Kevin FeigeSometimes you can have a great scene but it just doesn't need to be in the movie. If it's not progressing the plot, not progressing the story, not adding to the momentum, or if it's not purposefully serving a breath - it has got to go.
Kevin FeigeIt's one of the reasons why Spider-Man: Homecoming is so exciting. Because it's a new genre for us, a new character, the first time that Spider-Man is in our cinematic universe and you can see what he was meant to be in the comics. He's such a young teenager in comparison to these other heroes. But I think, because we're film fans who go and see everything, it's much more natural that you're inspired by other work. And then of course that influences your work, and the way you make films.
Kevin Feige