Doctor Strange co-writer C. Robert Cargill recently appeared on the podcast JunkfoodCinema (via CinemaBlend) and alludes that Jessica Chastain had originally been wanted for the part of Christine Palmer, however, passed because it wasn’t a superhero part and went to Rachel McAdams instead.
CARGILL: “This is the interesting thing that Hollywood’s starting to find out, is that a lot of the actresses out there want to be superheroes as much as the actors do. I know this happened with Scott [Derrickson]. He went to Jessica Chastain to get her on Doctor Strange because we were considering her.”
“And she’s like, ‘Hey, look, this project sounds awesome, and I would love to do it. But I’m only going to get one shot at being in a Marvel film and becoming a Marvel character; and I trained in ballet, and I really want to wear a cape.’ And that was the coolest rejection ever. She wanted to be in a Marvel movie, but she wanted to be the superhero, not the badass doctor Night Nurse.”
Passing on Christine Palmer in Doctor Strange would make the third supporting role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe she has turned down over the last couple of years.
We’ve known for ages that Jessica isn’t interested in playing regular people in superhero movies, this stance has previously led to her passing on the Maya Hansen part in Iron Man 3 and Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man (according to Variety) those parts were given to actresses Rebecca Hall and Evangeline Lily.
Jessica announced her exit from Iron Man 3 back in 2012 via Facebook. She would later explain to MTV in 2014 that is was due to the fact she didn’t want to play a civilian, only a superhero.
CHASTAIN: “If you’re going to be in a superhero movie, you only get one chance. You’re that character forever. So why do a superhero movie and play the boring civilian? Whatever it is, I want a fight scene. I could be an incredible villain. I could be a hero. I want a cool outfit, and I want to kick ass.”
There also seemed to be a hint to her turning down Ant-Man after being promised that Hope would eventually suit-up in later films, but wasn’t interested in waiting. Hope would eventually get her due in Ant-Man & The Wasp.
CHASTAIN: “There was this… I don’t want to say too much – but there was one thing, there was a possibility in the future of the character becoming… And I was like, ‘I understand that, but I want to do it now.’”
Jessica Chastain would eventually take a villain role in Simon Kinberg’s Dark Phoenix, the screenwriter turned director’s second attempt to adapt the classic X-Men storyline. Luckily for Jessica, the X-Men franchise is expected to get a hard-reboot at Marvel Studios and means that Chastain could still eventually land a part in the MCU at some point as the studio seems keen on landing her.
I think she would make an excellent Mystique or Inhumans member Medusa if Kevin Feige felt like rebooting those characters. Some other interesting characters would be Amora The Enchantress or Karnilla The Norn Queen, who are from the Thor universe.
Do you have any ideas of what MCU roles that Jessica should be considered for?
SOURCE: JUNKFOOD CINEMA
