Writer + Director + Sorcerer Supreme

TinyURL'd

This is possibly the best news since del Toro announced he was directing the classic ‘Hobbit’ film.  Personally, I am disgusted at myself for not thinking of this marvelous trio before I found about it on the IMDb page.  Yes, my friends, they are planning on releasing the Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme) movie in 2010.

But that is not even the best part of it.  Besides direction by del Toro, the screenplay is being written by the illustrious Neil Gaiman; screenwriter of films Stardust and (upcoming) Coraline, as well as Beowulf.  But that is not even the tip of his talent. he wrote the novels (graphic and non) of the former two movies mentioned.  He has also written, and received many awards, on his novels (besides Coraline and Stardust) The Anansi Boys, American Gods and The Sandman and Marvel: 1602 graphic novels - and a lot more.  He also wrote the English adaptation of the amazing Miyazaki film Princess Mononoke.  Besides noting his myriad of credentials, as a rabid fan of this man, one of the major reasons he is more than just a great choice, and actually a perfect choice is this:  Neil Gaiman just loves mythology.  There is too much to write about, a prime example would be the introduction to Marvel: 1602 (written by Peter Sanderson) and this list here on Wikipedia.  I do not claim to be a master in the story of Stephen Strange, but what I do know is how cemented in mythological lore the Sorcerer Supreme’s powers are.  Just look at this role in the Marvel: Civil War; he withheld his powers (which could have easily ended the entire war) on request of the beings that powered Strange, oftentimes, the Vishanti.  He is an amazing character, and most definitely high in the ranks of Marvel warriors (he was one of the founding members of the Illuminati, after all), but he is still under the ‘management’ of said beings.

Neil Gaiman is but only one third of this Triforce of Supreme talent.  You see what I did there?  Heck yes you did.  If keeping with the Triforce image, Gaiman would be holding onto the right Triforce of Courage, and our next would carry the one on top, the Triforce of Power.  The joke cant be that hard to get, as Guillermo del Toro was mentioned only two paragraph above this one.  As Gaiman was the perfect writer for this script, del Toro is the perfect director.  He has brought humanity to characters that are everything but.  I loved Hellboy.  I love Hellboy.  The reason for this is how human he is.  Superhero’s are exaggerated archetypes, they are the modern Greek god, and sometimes worshipped just as much.  That being said, I must admit that I have a personal affection towards the red-horned hero, and the movie was not as critically acclaimed as I did on my own.  It was not until Pan’s Labyrinth that he really shone.  As aforementioned, del Toro has been signed, perfectly as well, to direct The Hobbit.  Why?  del Toro is fantastic at directing fantasy, he is unbelievable at making the unbelievable believable, he… er… is un real at things th at are not… really, real.  He is the best there is.  With the amazing success of his LOTR trilogy, Toro was the first director Peter Jackson summoned for this prelude.  I believe it was because PJ knew the book to be an entirely different type of story, as close connected they are.  The Hobbit is a much more character based and personal story, and del Toro rocks at that more ravenously than a Uruk-hai and a Hobbit at a kegger.

This fact makes me cry myself to sleep every night.  As well written and inked, penciled and lettered a comic book character is, they are not real.  While replacing Zelda as sole recipient of the Triforce of Wisdom, Steve Ditko actually helped create Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Surpreme with the one and only Stan Lee.  It is a shame that Ditko has not recieved the amazing credit Lee has, as he helped co-create some of the fan favorites (Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter and The Lizard).  And thusly, the Sorcerer Supreme is aptly added to my hilarious blog title, as the brain and soul (if not, at least half) is helping Gaiman write the script.

The movie will be smack full of more canon fodder than Henry IV, Part 1.  Punny!

Tags: DC, del Toro, Doctor Strange, marvel, Movies, Neil Gaiman