Shortly after Scott Derrickson signed on to direct Marvel's Phase Three adventure Doctor Strange earlier this month, an unconfirmed report revealed that the studio was eyeing Oscar winner Jared Leto for the title role. A few weeks later, the actor entered early talks to replace Will Smith in Legendary Pictures' Brilliance, although now the actor has turned down the role, which could be a sign that he is still in contention to play Doctor Strange.

Jared Leto met with Brilliance director Julius Onah last Monday, but he eventually passed on the project later in the week. Noomi Rapace is still attached to star in the adaptation of Marcus Sakey's novel, which takes place in a world were certain people known as "brilliants" are born with superhuman abilities.

It remains to be seen if Jared Leto turned down the role because he is still in contention for the Doctor Strange role. We also reported earlier this month that Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch have emerged as contenders for the title role, although it isn't clear which of these three actors is the front runner at this time.

Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) came aboard last week to rewrite the original script by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, based on the Marvel comic book character. Production is slated to begin sometime next year, so Marvel still has plenty of time to decide which actor will portray Stephen Strange.