Benedict Wong Talks Working With Fellow Marvel Star Winston Duke in New Film ‘Nine Days’ (Exclusive)

Doctor Strange star Benedict Wong was reunited with fellow Marvel actor Winston Duke in their new film Nine Days and had nothing but great things to say about his friend. Throughout the last several years, the two have met each other coming and going at movie premieres and on sets, but they have yet to work as co-stars until now. During an exclusive interview with Wong and Nine Days director Edson Oda, Wong noted how much of a “joy” it was to work alongside the Black Panther star as both delved into intense characters.

“Amazing. I’ve known Winston on and off, I mean, I met him at the premiere of Doctor Strange, and we kept bumping into each other on [Avengers] Infinity War. We were running around on [Avengers] Endgame, and then to finally get to work with each other was a real joy, you know? He’s such a wonderful actor, and it’s such an iconic, memorable role. What he’s done with Nine Days, it’s so beautiful.”

Wong continued to gush over Oda as well. “As is the direction of Edson,” noting the cast and crew only had 24 days to make it happen in Utah, and that’s exactly what they did. “You can do a lot with passion,” Wong explained. The 51-year-old starred in the 2016 Doctor Strange film as Wong, and while he’s most recognized for his roles across several Marvel films, his non-MCU journey with Duke is one fans will remember.

Nine Days tells an abstract and emotional story of several unborn souls who have a chance to live life; however, Will (Duke), who’s already had the chance to be human, struggles with his past and is forced to face it when Emma (Zazie Beetz) comes into the picture. Oda says the premise behind this film started with real-life struggles he endured. “It comes from struggles I was going through; some dark places,” the director said of what inspired the storyline behind this new film. He noted that we as a society tend to wait for things to happen to bring us joy. However, in the reality of Nine Days, the idea is: “What if this is the goal?”

“We always like thinking of goals, like, ‘Okay, I’ll be happy when this happens,’ […] but what I tried to create in this reality was, ‘What is this is the goal?’” During an exclusive interview with Duke, he feels as if fans will be able to relate to this film, especially following the 2020 pandemic. Nine Days premieres on Friday in Los Angeles, California, New York, and nationwide on Aug. 6.