Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, gets an update with this adaptation of Lionel Wigram’s comic book series by writer/director Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla) starring Robert Downey Jr., with Jude Law as a much younger, slimmer and much more appealing Dr. Watson. The supporting cast includes RocknRolla’s Mark Strong as the film’s villain, Blackwood, and Rachel McAdams as love interest, Irene Adler.
Though many have critisized the film for veering widely from Conan Doyle’s idea of the taciturn detective, Robert Downey, Jr. won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.
Rumour also has it that the costumes are incredible. Jenny Beavan, the Oscar-winning costume designer of “A Room With a View,” spoke to
Vanity Fair about how she shied away from relying upon Holmes’s iconic props – the deerstalker, the pipe – when dreaming up costumes for
Sherlock Holmes. In part Beavan said, “The whole thing about the perception of Sherlock Holmes as played by Basil Rathbone and many other great actors, it comes from a Sidney Paget illustration in the The Strand magazine. Conan Doyle published his stories weekly in a magazine, they were illustrated, and then Basil Rathbone adopted the deerstalker and the pipe and all that. It’s never in the Conan Doyle [books]. So, in fact, we weren’t taking any liberates at all–we were simply doing our version. The other was never Conan Doyle’s version; he never described any of that clothing. From [a sartorial] point of view, if you actually read the stories, it’s very all over the place.”
As to the sets, Visit Britian’s website includes a Sherlock Holmes itinerary that offers details about the movie’s key locations throughout the UK, as well as a slideshow of those spots with both day and night views. I can only hope the scenery is as spot on and atmospheric as it was in the Johnny Depp version of Sweeney Todd. Cor, but whennat ship drawed up ta them docks in the beginnin’, Oy didn’t half fink I were in Lunnon!
To learn more about the making of the film, click here.
To watch a movie trailer or play the Sherlock Holmes game on Facebook, click here.
And finally, here’s the new Sherlock Holmes/Robert Downey, Jr. figure unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s this past December.
Have you seen the film? Please leave a comment and let us know what you thought of Downey, Law, the costumes, the sets and the 21st century version of Sherlock Holmes. Gad, I love that suit. There’s just something about a standing collar and a cravat I can’t resist.
Kristine
And finally, here’s the new Sherlock Holmes/Robert Downey, Jr. figure unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s this past December.
Actually William Gillette was the first one to wear the deerstalker cape and use the pipe when he adapted the stories for a play.