Marvel director admits Rachel McAdams was ‘underutilised’ in superhero sequel

Director Sam Raimi has admitted that Rachel McAdams was “underutilised” in the 2022 superhero movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

McAdams took on the role of Christine Palmer, an ex-girlfriend of the title character Stephen Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, in the 2016 Marvel movie and its sequel.

Speaking to Total Film about their latest collaboration Send Help, Raimi revealed that he “promised [him]self” that he would team up with the Oscar nominee again after they worked together on The Multiverse of Madness.

“First, she was the perfect person because she’s such a brilliant actress,” he said.

“I had a chance to work with her on my last film and saw how talented she was and actually underutilised.

“And I promised myself that I would work with her again. And then this film came up, and her warmth is wonderful.”

open image in gallery

The film, which also stars Dylan O’Brien, sees McAdams play Linda, a woman who ends up stranded on a desert island with her colleague following a plane crash.

“McAdams, in turn, delivers broad comedic strokes with such forceful humanity that she’s able to play her own tricks on the audience’s sympathies,” The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote of her performance in a four star review of the survival horror.

“She can screw up her face in a way that makes you start to fear that the entire thing might explode.”

open image in gallery

Raimi added that watching McAdams play a “dark, terrible villain” helps to “set the audience up to be surprised”, because the role is so different from those she has taken on in the past.

“They don’t know what’s right around the corner,” he said. “It turns left when they think it’s gonna turn right. That was an important factor, that she, this good person that we know and love, becomes this terrible villain.”