'Doctor Strange': 6 EW Exclusive Photos

“These gestures are ways of creating the magic. It’s a beautiful thing, it’s balletic, it’s very dynamic," says Benedict Cumberbatch. "And once the boys in the backroom get to work on it, there’s going to be crazy s--t going on."

"There’s all sorts of craziness [in Doctor Strange]," says Cumberbatch. "Falling, flying, jumping, fighting, punching, getting punched. It’s really rough and tumble."

"I’m perpetually awestruck that I’m getting to make this movie," director Scott Derrickson tells EW of the concept art above. "I keep waiting for the knock on the door when somebody says, 'This movie’s too weird, we can’t make this.'"

"When this comic appeared in the early '60s, it really informed, in a way that is pretty amazing, a lot of the psychedelic '60s as we know it. I don’t know that they were doing anything weird in the bullpen in Marvel, but certainly the stuff they were doing inspired all those people who were doing mind-expansion experiments at the time," explains producer Kevin Feige. "So, that's inherent to the property. And that's our mission statement for the visual effects on this movie." (Concept art, above) 

"[Benedict (seen above in concept art)] was someone that we were very interested in for a very long time," reveals Feige. "But he kept getting more popular, and more popular, and he kept getting busier, and busier, and it looked like the timing wasn’t going to work. So we looked at some other actors for a while and ultimately decided, ‘We have to try and make it work with Benedict and with his schedule.’"

To continue reading more on Doctor Strange,Entertainment Weekly's First Look issue, on newsstands Tuesday, or buy it here.