Doctor Strange began its international press tour in
Hong Kong last night, and director Scott Derrickson, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton were there to celebrate and discuss Marvel's first foray into the magical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Reflecting on the film's production, Derrickson also praised star Benedict Cumberbatch as a "trooper" for performing most of his own stunts on set, some of which were incredibly arduous.
"What a lot of people don't understand is that when an actor performs a lot of his own stunts, as Benedict did in this movie, it's very physically demanding," he said.
"So when I think about the production, a lot of what comes to mind is Benedict being in physical pain, and having to perform in situations where he is getting hit, getting kicked, being in harnesses, doing very difficult things. It's unpleasant but he was a total trooper and kept getting better and better as we went along."
Kevin Feige also addressed the concept of magic, something relatively new to the world of the MCU. The Marvel Studios president acknowledged that most "explanations" for superpowers in the MCU have a grounded basis in which they begin, but introducing magic allows them to bypass that due to its nature of being "unexplainable".
"When you talk about magic and mystery, you talk about something that defies explanation. Magic by definition is mysterious. It taps into things that you don't fully understand. That's what makes magic magic. The very nature of the supernatural is that it defies easy explanation. It goes beyond the limits of what we really understand. And that's why I am always drawn to it, [to] the fantastic and supernatural, and [it] taps into our own sense of awe. Those are the kind of stories I'd like to watch and I'd like to tell."
Doctor Strange premiered in Hong Kong last night, and releases in North America on November 4, 2016. Check out the press conference and some photos from the premiere below, and view the full set
here.