Yesterday, there was an unreliable report claiming that Ethan Hawke was suddenly in the running for the role of Doctor Strange. While the source has yet to be right on any of their three (yes, three) reports about different actors either signing on or being in the running for the role... perhaps they were right about something else.
Because of the rumor report yesterday, it was never said but merely implied that actor Joaquin Phoenix was no longer in the running for the role of Dr. Stephen Strange. Now this is confirmed.
Deadline is reporting that Phoenix is no longer in the running for Doctor Strange. Deadline writes:
"Marvel Studios‘ talks with Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix to play Doctor Strange are kaput. He never had a deal, but Marvel is already getting into it with other actors to play that superhero in a free standing film. Don’t believe these talks that Boyhood‘s Ethan Hawke has made a deal to play the character; I’m told reliably that that is speculation run wild. I understand Marvel’s belief that Phoenix would have been great for that role, in keeping with putting solid actors in those hero roles... I’m not sure Phoenix is a Comic-Con kind of guy."
So there you have it from one of Hollywood's top trade websites. Phoenix is out as Doctor Strange and Hawke is an outlandish speculation by unreliable people.
Before news of Phoenix being courted by Marvel Studios broke during Comic-Con 2014, actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy and Jared Leto were reportedly front runners for the leading role in Doctor Strange. So here comes those long-running Cumberbatch rumors again... definitely stay tuned.
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