Sam Raimi shares exact scene in “Doctor Strange 2” that made him want to work with Rachel McAdams again
- - Sam Raimi shares exact scene in “Doctor Strange 2” that made him want to work with Rachel McAdams again
Nick RomanoJanuary 30, 2026 at 6:53 AM
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Rachel McAdams in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' versus McAdams in 'Send Help'
courtesy of Marvel Studios; Brook Rushton/20th Century Studios
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Director Sam Raimi recalls the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scene that made him want to work with Rachel McAdams again.
McAdams became Raimi's first choice for the lead role in Send Help, about an undervalued worker marooned on an island with her horrible boss.
The actress describes Doctor Strange as "just a taste" of a Raimi role — "and I wanted more."
Director Sam Raimi remembers the moment while making Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when he realized Rachel McAdams "understood what it takes to be a great movie star."
It's the scene that takes place later in the film, in the incursion-battered universe holding the so-called Sinister Strange, when Benedict Cumberbatch's sorcerer attempts to "dreamwalk" into the dead body of his alternate-reality variant. Skeletal specters emerge as a consequence of tampering with such dark magic, and one launches itself at McAdams' Christine Palmer.
The action piece with Christine was only added to the movie through reshoots. "I had to say things to her like, 'Do you mind [if] there's gonna be a ghost attack sequence, and you're assaulted by these ghosts?'" Raimi tells Entertainment Weekly. "I expected a little chagrin, but she said, 'Okay, what do we do?'"
Rachel McAdams, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Xochitl Gomez in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Marvel Studios
The filmmaker remembers how "gung ho" the Mean Girls and The Notebook star was for this moment. "She put so much gusto into it and authenticity that she made the ghost scene work," he continues. "I had great animators to help, but she made that work as well as her character stuff. I thought, I'm gonna work with this person again."
Their next project arrives in theaters this weekend. Send Help, billed as an R-rated survival horror-thriller with a lot of inherent comedy, stars McAdams as Linda Liddle, an undervalued, overworked, unpopular employee who finds herself stranded on a deserted island with her toxic, arrogant boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien), after their company jet crashes into the ocean.
From McAdams' purview, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness felt like a snackable Raimi role compared to her part in Send Help. "I wanted to have a big, splashy, normal-sized experience with Sam," the actress, Oscar-nominated for Spotlight, tells EW in a separate interview. "It really felt like it was just a taste, and I wanted more."
Dylan O'Brien and Rachel McAdams in 'Send Help'
Brook Rushton/20th Century Studios
The journey to get Send Help to the screen has been years in the making. Raimi describes it as "a long, hard sell — and more than one."
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift wrote the script, which was first picked up by Columbia Pictures. It was in active development, but after the second draft, the studio wanted to move it out of the theaters and onto streaming. "I said, 'I'd rather not,'" Raimi remembers. "This is more of a big-screen experience. It's really about the entertainment of the whole audience reacting and gasping and laughing and cuing each other as to the unique sense of humor in the film."
So Send Help sat on the shelf for a bit until it entered turnaround, meaning Raimi, Shannon, and Swift had a specific window to shop it to other studios. They had to find someone willing to pick it up and pay Columbia executives back their original investment. They found that in 20th Century Studios, which is owned by Disney, which released Raimi's Doctor Strange 2 through Marvel Studios.
After that foray in the MCU, McAdams became Raimi's first choice to play Linda Liddle. "Originally, I don't think she took the role. I think she had another commitment," he says. "So I had to look for other actresses, but then she came back to it for some reason and said, 'I want that part.'"
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) in 'Send Help'
courtesy of 20th Century Studios
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"There was a lot to it, and I knew I needed a very deft hand to guide me," McAdams notes. "I was just so excited about the mastery he would bring to this, that it would be so elevated. It would be an elevated adventure film in his hands."
As it happens, the ending of Send Help gives off some Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness vibes. No spoilers, but you may notice parallels between McAdams' Linda and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, particularly Wanda Maximoff's look when she's chasing after Christina and Strange through the underground tunnels.
"I loved her character and the way she played that. So that's a real compliment. Thank you," McAdams responds to that comparison. "I mean, possibly, kind of subconsciously, that came in. We certainly didn't talk about that in particular, but the moodiness, the richness — the film quality feels bloody at times...That saturation to it."
Send Help is now playing in theaters.
on Entertainment Weekly
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