'Evil Dead' Director Fede Alvarez Reveals Why He Turned Down A Marvel Gig

It might seem inconceivable that anybody would turn down being part of Marvel's wildly successful cinematic universe, but it's actually happened quite a bit. Some actors have turned down roles (remember Joaquin Phoenix for Doctor Strange?) while directors the level of Edgar Wright and Ava DuVernay have done the same. And at least on the filmmaker side the reason why is always the same, creative freedom, or the fear of not having it. And that's what drove Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez in his decision not to join the MCU.

You may recall that Alvarez had been one of the names rumored to direct Doctor Strange, and while he doesn't confirm that exactly, he does tell ScreenCrush that he and Marvel did enter negotiations, but that he decided his energies were best spent elsewhere...

“A lot of those movies are cool and audiences are going and watching them. It’s just as a director it’s harder to have your vision in those, if you go and do a Marvel movie… At some point we were in conversations and… they already figured it out. They’ve figured out the style. They’ve figured out the way they shoot them. They’ve figured out the colors, the humor. What would I do? I enjoy a lot more freedom than that. I don’t know. Eventually I might . And it depends on probably the characters in the stories. But just something about my job as a director that I really enjoy is creating my own thing.”

So he's still open to the idea, and maybe if/when Doctor Strange gets a sequel he'll be on Marvel's speed dial. Although personally I think he'd be a better choice for something like Blade.  Alvarez's next film, the horror Don't Breathe, opens August 26th.