What are you willing to sacrifice for the greater good? With this question, director Sam Raimi introduces us to the “Multiverse of Madness”, the second chapter starring Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) a girl of only fourteen, possesses the rare power to cross the multiverse, but is unable to control it.
Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) meanwhile has become a very powerful witch, entering into symbiosis with her “alter ego” Scarlet Witch thanks to the study of the Darkhold, the book of the Damned. In her sadness, after losing her family, she clings to a faint hope of being able to embrace her two children again in another universe (we learn this in the TV series available on Disney + Wanda Vision).
Stephen Strange awakens from an all too realistic nightmare to go to the wedding of his ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) consumed by remorse for having taken a different path from her, in his elegant formal suit mulling over his choices, when a sprawling one-eyed monster puts the city in check.
The target of the creature is America, arrived from another universe, unaware of everything. An unexpected friendship will be established between the two, Doctor Strange will protect her as if she were an older brother, even if he cannot predict the threats they will have to face together in a kaleidoscope of situations generated not only by “monsters” and “spells” but by the most honesty of the human soul.
We had the opportunity to participate in the press conference dedicated to the creation of the film. Kevin Feige, producer and president of Mavel Studios described himself as “lucky” to have had the opportunity to work with the director:
I could say it was particularly surreal, like in the cyclicity of a circle: when I first met Mr. Raimi, I was a young producer grateful to have been in the same room with him and now I’m again, a lucky old producer to having been in the same room with him.
However, the director had to deal with the new technologies that he was able to exploit without betraying his traditional approach. When he spoke of novelties, however, he did not refer only to special effects:
Technology has changed, everything has become easier, but the biggest difference has been made by being able to use “Zoom” to organize work.
Of the actors Raimi said he was enthusiastic:
All these great actors, deeply human. They all have a wealth of knowledge from past experiences and have not been afraid to use it to enrich the characters.
Thanks also to the growth made in each film:
they just had to change some nuances, to make the conflict with their alter-egos more interesting.
In this regard Benedict Cumberbatch added:
This narrative structure, linked to the Multiverses (where in each there is an alternative version of each of us) or simply the idea that we can play multiple roles of ourselves in life, has given us an incredible ability to immerse ourselves in the space of our subconscious, of being able to escape through dreams, where we can extrapolate the feeling of knowing other versions of us who have made different choices (this makes Strange) resulting in different scenarios. I can call it a really weird spectacular self-therapy.
Danny Elfman signed the soundtrack, bringing the film back to a somewhat “anachronistic” but absolutely convincing dimension. Screenwriter Michael Waldorn (also responsible for the Mavel Studios series, Loki) has spiced up the story with cameos and characters who bring the past and future of this “infinite saga” with them, bringing this phase 4 of the MCU to an even more level complex and intriguing.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
