The game’s afoot. USA Today is reporting that casting will be complete in “six or so weeks” for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes reinvention starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the legendary detective. Based on an upcoming comic book Holmes story written by producer Lionel Wigram (as as tool to get the movie made), this latest incarnation promises (or threatens) to cast off the Victorian mustiness.
“It will be a very big production, visceral and intellectual,” Ritchie says. “His brilliance will percolate into the action.”
The expected 2010 Warner release will be set in the olden days, he says, but the emphasis will be as much on Holmes’ physical prowess as it is on his keen powers of deduction.
And instead of stuffy old Dr. Watson, Holmes will have a kung fu valet named Cato as his sidekick. Nope, not true. We hope. With nothing to go on except admiration for the principle players, I’m wiling to trust that Richie and Downey, Jr. intend to explore the darker side of Holmes’ personality with due dignity. “His intellect was as much of a curse as it was a blessing,” Ritchie says. “He was a deeply layered character.” That sort of attitude bodes well for a film following the pattern of recent reboots that have come from treating our mythic heroes with respect. Holmes will have a love interest based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Irene Adler who was featured in the story, “A Scandal in Bohemia.” No word on the villain as yet, but there are rumors he might be played by Mark Strong (RocknRolla, Good, Body of Lies).
Meanwhile, we would be wise to abide by this Holmes adage when predicting upcoming Oscar contenders: “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”