San Diego Comic-Con News:  Oscar-nominated actor Jaoquin Phoenix (Gladiator, Walk the Line, The Master) is in negotiations with Marvel Studios to play the title role in a Doctor Strange movie.  It appears that the Doctor Strange film, which Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige wants to start filming next spring, is a high priority at the studio (see "Marvel Opening a Third Side of Movie Universe").  In June Marvel tapped Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Day the Earth Stood Still) to direct Doctor Strange (see "'Doctor Strange' Director Set"), and then two weeks later hired Jon Spaihts to rewrite a script that was originally written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (see "'Prometheus' Scribe to Adapt 'Doctor Strange'").
 
Now The Wrap reports (and Deadline confirms) that Phoenix is in talks to play the role of Marvel’s supreme sorcerer.  However bizarre Phoenix’s private life may be (his Letterman appearance as a wannabe rapper for the documentary I’m Still Here set a standard for "crazy" that has only been equaled by the recent antics of Shia LeBoeuf), he is a "serious" actor who gets deep into his roles, and his participation in a Doctor Strange film, if it indeed does happen, is good news for Marvel Studios and fans of the Doctor Strange comic.
 
Phoenix will be seen next in Paul Thomas Anderson’s dark comedy crime drama, Inherent Vice, which is based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon and due to be released on December 12th, 2014.