Rachel McAdams: 'I relied on Benedict Cumberbatch’s British humour to keep things light on Doctor Strange set'

The Canadian A-lister needed her co-star during filming on the Marvel blockbuster
Jennifer Ruby26 October 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Rachel McAdams relied on Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘British sense of humour’ while making Doctor Strange.

The Canadian actress, 37, needed her co-star to help keep things ‘light’ on the set of Marvel’s superhero blockbuster.

“It’s very intense material. As much as it’s a fun romp, it’s also got an intense emotional spine to it,” she said.

“So we had to keep it light, you know when you’re in a dark hospital room all day, and just have a laugh. I mean, Benedict’s hilarious and does keep it light. He’s got that great British humour.”

Keeping it light: Benedict Cumberbatch at the Doctor Strange premiere 
Yui Mok/PA

“Benedict was so great. He was actually flying around the room on wires.

“He’s very fit and graceful. He did a lot of that stuff, so I wasn’t talking to a tennis ball very often.”

McAdams, who plays a doctor and Strange’s ex-girlfriend Christine Palmer in the film, was quite happy to keep her feet firmly on the ground.

“It looks fun for about the first hour and then I think the thrill wears off and you’re just kind of hanging from the ceiling.

“I’d just some off a very physical job so I was relieved to be in scrubs and doing like intricate medical, surgical stuff.”

“I really liked their relationship, I liked how fresh and original it was to kind of watch this love story between two people who have already broken up.

“I loved the emotional heartbeat between them, you know, it’s not just running around fighting bad guys. I thought that added another layer on what I thought was a really fresh take on the comic book genre.”

Doctor Strange - London Premiere

1/14

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in