Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness composer reveals ‘last second’ change made to key scene

‘That was really done at the very last second, kind of crazy close to the release’

Composer Danny Elfman has revealed the last-minute change made to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the behest of Marvel boss Kevin Feige.

The film, directed by Sam Raimi, starred Benedict Cumberbatch as the mystical hero Stephen Strange.

Minor spoilers follow for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness...

One scene which has garnered particular praise from fans sees Strange face off against an alternate-universe version of himself, referred to by fans as Sinister Strange.

The pair battle against each other using musical spells, as the two Stranges throw notes at each other that reverberate throughout the score.

“That was a concept that came together a little more generally and then got focused down. It went through a number of configurations,” reavaled Elfman, in an interview with Consequence.

“The first thing I did was just score it, like direct score, knowing that there’d be these elements, which I recorded separately, of Bach and Beethoven.”

Elfman said that he initially used “half a dozen” different classical pieces for the fight, from a number of different composers.

“Then I had a request from Kevin Feige,” he revealed. “Could you make it just one composer versus another, Bach versus Beethoven?”

Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (Marvel Studios)

“So then I redid it and made it Beethoven’s fifth symphony fighting Bach’s ‘Toccata and Fugue in D minor’.

“That was really done at the very last second, kind of crazy close to the release. It was an idea, and then Kevin heard it and he said, ‘We need to condense this down and make it like this.’

“We just banged into another session and recorded it, and then a day later it’s being dubbed in the movie. It was really fun to do, obviously.”