As you’ve hopefully already seen, in this week’s upcoming episode of The Discourse, director Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange,” “Sinister,” “The Black Phone”) stopped by to discuss “V/H/S/85.” It’s the sixth installment of the beloved horror anthology series, this edition follows five sinister found footage tales that delve into the grim underbelly of 1980s America. Derrickson directs one and it also features his two sons, the actor Dashiell, and the composer Atticus.
But this pod conversation was full of little nuggets of interesting info, like Derrickson expressing his unabashed love for “Barbie,” the new horror, “Where Evil Lurks,“ (he thinks the Greta Gerwig-directed movie should win Best Picture), and explaining his reasons for leaving “Doctor Strange And The Multiverse of Madness,” the short version being creative differences, but Derrickson still being cool with Marvel and attending the premiere of the Sam Raimi film.
Since there’s no bad blood between Marvel and the director, does that mean Derrickson could return to Marvel Studios or even take on something with DC? Anything is possible. In fact, there may be some characters he’s a perfect fit for and has expressed interest in previously.
“I think Ghost Rider is a great comic. I think it’s great mythology and I think there’s a really great movie to be made from there,” he said.
The director then confirmed that he was offered ‘Ghost Rider 2,’ but without saying it as much, it was a hard pass. It sounds like he did not like that script, which given the final film itself, sounds about right.
“Yeah, I was offered ‘Ghost Rider 2’ [Spirit of Vengeance] when I was kind of in director’s jail, and I read the script, and I was like, ‘Well, this probably will end my career if I do this,’” he admitted candidly. “I just didn’t think that it was something that was going to do particularly well. And I don’t think I ever saw the movie, so no criticism of what they ended up doing in the end, but it just wasn’t for me to do. But yeah, I love that comic. I think there’s a good film in there, for sure.”
As for DC characters, Derrickson, with his passion for the supernatural, has always had one character in mind.
“I’ve always expressed interest in Constantine. I love the Hellblazer comics. I’ve read all of them. But I know that it’s also tangled up in a lot of ownership things, and I don’t know if Keanu Reeves would do it again or not.”
Dare to dream maybe? Either way, Apple TV+ romantic action genre-hybrid, “The Gorge” with the excellent cast of Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy is next and he talked about that one as well, albeit cautiously so as not to spill all the beans. You can listen to the full The Discourse podcast with Derrickson below.
