"Doctor Strange" is a movie that both Marvel and Sherlock fans are anticipating, and a huge part of it is because Benedict Cumberbatch is portraying the unlikely superhero. But the actor reveals that he has never dreamed of playing the role. The English actor says in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in the role was not really in his bucket list.
But the actor became interested in the character, and he attributes this to an experience he had back when he was in his late teens. Cumberbatch was 19 years old when he left for West Bengal in eastern India, and taught English to Tibetan monks. There, he learned about the monks' spirituality, and he believes he benefited the time he spent there, more than he was able to help his 'students.' He says, "Basically, they taught me reams, fathoms, more than I could possibly begin [to teach them]. I became interested the meeting point between Western logic and Eastern mysticism."
The 'Sherlock' star compares his interaction with the monks with that of the Marvel superhero. He searched for Doctor Strange's story and found out that he was an arrogant surgeon who because of the circumstances he had to deal with, had to accept that there are mysterious and unfathomable forces.
Since he got to know the character better, he became more interested in playing the part. He shares, "I knew it was on their slate, I knew it was coming up, so I got invested in it and I was interested."
Cumberbatch is generous enough to share some plot details of his upcoming film. He says, "What happens here in this origin story is, Strange realizes the power he has within his body is not about his body. It's something that's beyond the causal-temporal-linear-reality that he knows so well as a [surgeon]. We come from this very causal world into this mystical, magical world of other realms and sorcery."