CINEMA NEWS – Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy is a fan favorite to play Fantastic Four villain Dr. Doom, and now Marvel knows what they need to do to land him the role.

Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy has officially responded to fan rumors of him playing Fantastic Four villain Dr. Doom, giving Marvel Studios the key to casting him if they want. Murphy previously played the Scarecrow in all three of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films, establishing him as something of a talisman as the pre-eminent director. Given his reputation, it’s inevitable that Fantastic Four fans often root for him to emerge as a new type of villain in the MCU: the Machiavellian monster Victor Von Doom.

On the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Josh Horowitz asked Murphy about the possibility of playing Dr. Doom, where he revealed that he would be willing to read a script if it came his way:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s always… It’s always about the script. So, I read it… If somebody sends me a script, I read it. And you never know what’s going to turn out… That’s what I love about this in the business… I had no idea or idea that Chris [Nolan] would call me [in 2021] [about Oppenheimer], you know, it just happens, and that’s what makes this business so exciting and wild… “.

It looks like if Marvel Studios wants to give fans what they want, which is Cillian Murphy playing Dr. Doom in the yet-to-be-announced Fantastic Four movie, they know exactly what to do. Formulate the script, put it in Murphy’s hands, and you immediately have the opportunity to have one of the biggest actors of the current generation join the MCU. That responsibility currently rests with Josh Friedman, the screenwriter of Avatar: The Last Airbender, who took over from Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. Considering Friedman’s body of work, he’s worked on films like Foundation and Snowpiercer, so the tone of Fantastic Four would fit well with Murphy’s acting.

Cillian Murphy explained years ago what aspects he looks at before taking on a role in a comic book movie.

In addition to a good script, the right script is also important. If Marvel Studios wants to bring Murphy back in line with fans’ wishes, they should look back at what the actor loved when he joined Nolan’s Batman Begins. Although the MCU is more fantastical than the Dark Knight universe, Murphy has previously praised Nolan’s realistic tone (via Vulture):

“When Batman Begins was made, it was different. I think Chris [Nolan] deserves credit for creating that trilogy. I think those movies were very grounded in reality… No one in those movies had superpowers. You know what I mean? It took the storytelling up a notch, where New York became Gotham and nobody did anything magical. Batman in the movies just did push-ups and was British. So that’s what I loved about them.”

This could cause some problems with the Fantastic Four movie, in which Murphy could actually play Dr. Doom, but Doom would actually have to be a real threat. Previous appearances of the villain have been too theatrical or too otherworldly, and while Doom has an original quirk due to his appearance, it’s his desire to dominate and his fearsome air that should drive the casting and writing. There’s no reason Doom can’t be grounded in reality without compromising the comic book spirit of the MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot. And if that comes at the cost of getting someone as good as Murphy in the role, then maybe that’s the right price.

Source: Happy Sad Confused Podcast/Vulture