Between his two directorial outings — "CQ" and "Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III" — and in his collaborations with Wes Anderson (most recently on "Moonrise Kingdom"), Roman Coppola has certainly shown a knack for the fantastical. He's adept at constructing accessible yet unreal worlds that always offer up a lot to explore visually, and so perhaps it's no surprise that he once tried his hand at making a comic book movie.
While he says he's not interested in doing that kind of movie now, he does reveal to Moviepilot that he did take a stab at making a "Doctor Strange" movie for Marvel way back in the day. But it seems that the possible limitations of working within a studio structure ultimately cooled his jets on the gig.
”You know, I did [have the desire to make a superhero movie], but I could again. I was a huge 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.”
So, it doesn't sound like we'll ever get a Roman Coppola-directed superhero movie like we might dream about. But that's not to say he's totally washed his hands of comic book material. As you might recall, he directed a Farmers Insurance ad last year that was tied into the release of "The Avengers," so he was able to play in the space a little bit.
As for a bonafide "Doctor Strange" movie, there hasn't been much movement in a while. Back in 2010, Marvel tasked Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer ("Conan The Barbarian," "Sahara") to pen a script (alongside a few other folks), which was submitted in 2011, but nothing else has been heard since. There was a brief rumor of the character popping up in "Thor 2," but that hasn't built much steam either. But if/when it does happen, Coppola thinks his cousin Nicolas Cage, would be a good choice to play the character.
Do you want to see a "Doctor Strange" movie or a comic book movie helmed by Roman Coppola? Tell us below.
Nic Cage?? glad this wasnt made
I think Edward Norton was a bit bummed out he couldn't work out the details for his return as The Hulk. He looks like a good choice for Stephen Strange. Marvel now seems more permissible to auteur – like filmmakers (Whedon, Gunn) so Coppola may have a second chance at this.