The year is 1978. With the success of Marvel's TV smash hit The Incredible Hulk, an outpouring of made for TV movies hit the networks. There were a couple of Spider-Man movies starring Nicholas Hammond, and two Hulk movies featuring Thor and Daredevil. And then there was Dr. Strange...
Oh, you didn't see that one? I don't blame you... It starred Peter Hooten as Dr. Strange, and Jessica Walters as Morgan Le Fay. Yea, Arrested Development and Archer's Jessica Walters. Check out the trailer:
Awesome... Anyways, word of a Dr. Strange movie that doesn't suck has been floating around for a while now, with the latest being that screenwriters have been hired to write a movie adaptation.
So having a possible star interested can only be good news. Splashpage reports:
“I’ve been lobbying for that,” the actor told Hero Complex. “There’s a whole bunch of people [at 'Grey’s Anatomy'] who are into comics and Marvel, too, on the set and they’re like, ‘Doctor Strange, that’s the one you should do.’ It would be fantastic.”
Some of his cast-mates aren’t just fans, but they’re part-time super-heroes themselves. His onscreen wife Ellen Pompeo played Karen Page in 2003’s “Daredevil” and Eric Dane played a villain in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” while former “Grey’s Anatomy” executive producer Allan Heinberg moonlights as a comics writer for Marvel itself – even scripting the Dr. Strange character on occasion.
“['Dr. Strange' would] be a great TV show, especially for HBO or something like that,” Dempsey points out. “I don’t know if I’d necessarily do another show, a drama, that’s 24 episodes again. HBO you’re at 13 and I think that’s much better. It’s just so hard to sustain the quality after three years if you’re doing 24, 25 episodes a year. It all depends on who you have as a writing team — it’s how you set it up, what’s the tone and making sure you’re not locked into this one-season success [mentality], you can’t be afraid to think beyond that.”
Back in June 2010, Deadline Hollywood reported that Marvel Studios hired “Conan the Barbarian” screenwriters Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to take a look at Marvel’s Sorcerer Surpreme.
“Hopefully, doing something like 'Transformers' is about to show myself in an action situation where I’m not mister-weepy-doctor guy, you know, not McDreamy,” the actor said, referring to his supporting role on “Grey’s Anatomy.” “You have to change that in people’s view. I’m still hungry for other things. I’d love to play Doctor Strange.”
To be honest, we could do a lot worse than Dempsey as the Sorcerer Supreme. And I think Dr. Strange would make a great TV series, as opposed to a movie. I don't really see a lot of franchise potential, so for the most bang for our buck, TV is the way to go. And it would be a good show to compete with DC's Wonder Woman TV series.
How 'bout it, News Team? Are you interested in seeing Dr. Strange on the big/ small screen? What do you think of Dempsey in the role?
Sound off in the comments section below!
Patrick Dempsey can go suck a skrull. McDreamy as Doctor Strange indeed! PFAW!
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