Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Game's Afoot: Cinema's New Sherlock Holmes

Directly from the Cinema-Mad Sibling, king of all entertainment news and rumors, who shouted out from his computer this morning:

"Your Downey's been cast as Sherlock Holmes!"

"My" Downey? Well, the Cine-Sib has been busily teasing me about the so-called "Downey Crush," which is a form of "I can't wait for 'Iron Man 2'." But anyway! Here's the Holmes story straight from Variety.

I'm delighted about Robert Downey Jr., but I'm not so sure about Guy "Swept Away" Ritchie's involvement in the Warner Brothers project. (Other movie mavens are also concerned.) Still, there's plenty of potential for greatness -- or at least entertainment -- in a rip-roaring new twist/interpretation of Holmes. As for villains . . . Will we get Professor Moriarty? One can only dream at this point -- and speculate.

Overall? The casting of the versatile Downey is interesting, and like the casting for "Iron Man," there's an intriguing meeting point of fiction and reality. Holmes, as you know, possessed a brilliant mind, a talent for music, and a certain individualistic flair. But Holmes was also a drug addict. Hm.

The thought does occur to me, though, that Hugh Laurie ("House") would be a great Holmes too, brilliant mind, abrasive manner, drug addiction, and all.

So, gentle reader, any thoughts on your favorite Holmes tales? One of the first ones I read was "The Hound of the Baskervilles." (And yes, yes, I know the movie will also be drawing from the Holmes comic books.)

1 comment:

Pat Patterson said...

Last year Hugh Laurie gave an interview on the BBC where it was mentioned that House was indeed Sherlock Holmes and essentially said that some reviewers had never read Arthur Conan Doyle so never understood the reference.