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Loading ...Sherlock Holmes is an upcoming film based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson. The film began shooting in October 2008 under Guy Ritchie’s direction, and will be released on December 25, 2009.
Premise
Set in 1891, the film revolves around Holmes and Watson stopping a conspiracy to destroy Britain.[3] The film opens with Holmes apprehending the murderous cult leader Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who promises he will return from the dead and exact his revenge as he is being led to the gallows.[4]
In May 2009, Warner Bros. released its official plot summary:
- In a dynamic new portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes sends Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.
Cast
- Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes: Downey was visiting Joel Silver’s offices with his wife, producer Susan Downey, when he learned about the project. Ritchie initially felt Downey was too old for the role because he wanted the film to show a younger Holmes on a learning curve like Batman Begins. However, Ritchie decided to take a chance on casting him in the role, and Downey told the BBC that “I think me and Guy are well-suited to working together. The more I look into the books, the more fantastic it becomes. Holmes is such a weirdo.” Downey’s wife told him “that when you read the description of the guy – quirky and kind of nuts – it could be a description of me.” Downey intends to focus more on Holmes’ patriotic side and his bohemianism, and felt that his work on Chaplin has prepared him for an English accent. Ritchie feels his accent is “flawless”. Both Downey and Ritchie are martial arts enthusiasts, and have improvised much of the bartitsu mentioned in the 1901 story The Adventure of the Empty House. Downey lost weight for the part, because during a chat he had with Chris Martin, Martin recommended that Holmes look “gaunt” and “skinny”.
- Jude Law as Dr. John Watson: Holmes’ ally, a surgeon and a war veteran. Law is not portraying the bumbling fool that actor Nigel Bruce popularised in the 1930s–40s films.[13] Law previously appeared in the Granada Television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in an episode based on The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place. Being a Holmes fan, Law recognised there was material unexplored in other adaptations and was intrigued by Downey’s casting; Law was cast because he had a positive meeting with Downey and concurred the film would have to explore Holmes and Watson’s friendship. Downey believed by emphasising Watson’s qualities as a former soldier, a doctor, a womaniser and a gambler, it would make for a more interesting foil for Holmes. Ritchie originally envisioned Russell Crowe in the role.
- Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler: A femme fatale from New Jersey who once outwitted Holmes, earning his grudging respect. In the film, Adler is no longer married to Godfrey Norton and needs Holmes’ help for the case. Downey convinced Ritchie to cast McAdams, arguing she would not look too young to be his love interest.
- Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood: A Satanist lord.
- Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan. Watson wishes to settle down with her, causing a conflict with Holmes.
- Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade.
Production
Producer Lionel Wigram remarked that for around ten years, he had been thinking of new ways to depict Sherlock Holmes. “I realized the images I was seeing in my head [when reading the stories] were different to the images I’d seen in previous films.” He imagined “a much more modern, more bohemian character, who dresses more like an artist or a poet”, namely Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. After leaving his position as executive for Warner Bros. in 2006, Wigram sought a larger scope to the story so it could attract a large audience, and amalgamated various Holmes stories to flesh it out further. Lord Blackwood is based on Aleister Crowley, which was due to Doyle’s own fascination with the occult. The producer felt he was “almost clever” pitting Holmes, who has an almost supernatural ability to solve crimes, against a supposedly supernatural villain. Wigram wrote and John Watkiss drew a 25-page comic book about Holmes in place of a spec script. Professor Moriarty’s existence is hinted in the script to set up the sequels.
In March 2007, Warner Bros. chose to produce, seeing similarities in the concept with Batman Begins. Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate had some involvement in sorting out legal issues, although the stories are in the public domain in the United States. Neil Marshall was set to direct, but Guy Ritchie signed on to direct in June 2008. When a child at boarding school, Ritchie and other pupils listened to the Holmes stories through dormitory loudspeakers. “Holmes used to talk me to sleep every night when I was seven years old,” he said. Therefore, his image of Holmes differed from the films. He wanted to make his film more “authentic” to Doyle, explaining, “There’s quite a lot of intense action sequences in the stories, [and] sometimes that hasn’t been reflected in the movies.” Holmes’ “brilliance will percolate into the action”, and the film will show that his “intellect was as much of a curse as it was a blessing”. Ritchie sought to make Sherlock Holmes a “very contemporary film as far as the tone and texture”, because it has been “a relatively long time since there’s been a film version that people embraced”.
Filming began in October 2008. The crew shot at Freemasons’ Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral.[17] Filming was done in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, while the Town Hall was used for a fight scene (which required smashing stained glass windows). They shot the opening scene for three days at St Bartholomew-the-Great church in London, and shot on the river Thames at Wapping for a scene involving a steamboat on 7 November. Filming continued at Stanley Dock and Clarence Dock in Liverpool. In late November 2008, stunt man Robert Maillet was filming a fight scene at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, and accidentally punched Robert Downey, Jr. in the face, causing Downey to be bloodied and knocked down, but not knocked unconscious as originally reported. The Sun reported that on November 28, a tank truck caught fire, forcing filming to stop for two hours. When filming at St John’s Street in December, the schedule had to be shortened from 13 to nine days because locals complained about how they would have always have to park cars elsewhere during the shoot. In January 2009, filming moved to Brooklyn.
Ritchie wanted his Holmes’ costume to play against the popular image of the character, joking “there is only one person in history who ever wore” a deerstalker. Downey selected the character’s fedora. The director kept to the tradition of making Holmes and Watson’s apartment quite messy, and had it decorated with artifacts and scientific objects from the continents they would have visited.
