With the release of a new trailer and TV spot for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans are getting excited about just how much director Sam Raimi’s quintessential style is present in the new footage.
It’s a relief to know the horror auteur, famed for his Evil Dead and Spider-Man trilogies, will actually have a discernable director’s voice present in the film considering Raimi took over from the first movie’s director, Scott Derrickson. Derrickson had originated the idea of making the sequel a horror movie but quit directing duties in 2020, citing creative difference with Marvel. However, Derrickson has stayed on board as an executive producer.
There’s always an underlying fear that the director is just a figurehead when it comes to tentpole super hero movies, along with a worry that the creative process is being relegated largely to a boardroom of higher-up executive producers. However, some of the shots we’ve seen in the new trailer appear to be deliberate call-backs to Raimi’s previous films, suggesting his distinct visual style is in tact in this case.
Check out a clip posted to Twitter, for example. It shows a side-by-side comparison of a shot from Spider-Man 2 and Multiverse of Madness where we go from a medium shot of a character to an extreme close up of the reflection in their eyes — Alfred Molina’s Dock Ock and Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff, respectively.
The clips look all the more extraordinary when they are edited into one contiguous segment.
Another Twitter user put together a collage of many different close-up eye shots the director has used in various films over the years, from Multiverse of Madness to Spider-Man 3.
Raimi fans were quick to get excited at the director once again helming a super hero flick, given his incomparable skill behind the camera.
Watch Benedict Cumberbatch battle his evil twin — à la Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams in Raimi’s Army of Darkness — when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes to theaters May 6.