Warner Bros. Turning Sherlock Holmes Into Action Hero
Filed under: Action, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Remakes and Sequels
Sherlock Holmes has been a character in movies for over a hundred years, but audiences have never really gotten tired of him. Most iconic characters can start to feel stale after awhile, but thanks to fresh ideas, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson have constantly entertained. Of course, these fresh ideas often mean that certain liberties are taken with the source material. When I was growing up I knew very little of the actual stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle, because much of what was being produced was the effect of fresh ideas. There was Young Sherlock Holmes and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, both rather self-explanatory with their titles, Without a Clue, which depicted Watson as the real detective of the duo, and The Great Mouse Detective, an animated film depicting the duo as mice. It is surprising that nobody actually thought of this earlier, but the latest idea for Holmes is to portray him as an action hero.Warner Bros. is developing a possible action franchise based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, and the studio is even working with Conan Doyle's estate in order to make it a respectful enterprise. There is already a script for the first picture, which is based on an upcoming comic book by producer Lionel Wigram, and it is going to be directed by Neil Marshall. The movie will probably be simply titled Sherlock Holmes, and while Warners won't reveal the storyline, studio execs compared the idea to Batman Begins (I'm also thinking of Sleepy Hollow, as far as reinventions go) and mentioned that in this version Holmes will get to display his talents as a boxer and swordsman as much as he does his brilliant mind. Hopefully they can actually make it smart like Batman Begins (actually it should be smarter) and not silly like some other current adventurer franchises like National Treasure and The Mummy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-16-2007 @ 2:10PM
anthony said...
With David Tennant as the star. I think that would actually work, he already has the experience as a sluthey Doctor.
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3-16-2007 @ 2:06PM
Patrick said...
I wasn't interested until you said "Neil Marshall."
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3-16-2007 @ 2:25PM
Monica said...
The problem with casting someone like David Tennant is that he's already dismissed playing the character in an interview a few months back. He's already said that he loves playing the Doctor because it isn't like Sherlock Holmes -- you get to make the role your own.
The man who gets cast as Holmes in this new production has to be able to properly combine the established wit, charm, deductive skills of Holmes with the lesser known aspects (albeit, Canonically correct) of being a boxer, a swordsman, and a chemist while living a rather 'bohemian' lifestyle in Victorian London.
Tennant would be good -- he's a good actor and he even looks the part (more or less). But he doesn't have the right attitude for it -- with a view on the character like that, I'd rather not have him play Holmes. I'd go for an unknown or at least a lesser known actor.
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3-20-2007 @ 7:36PM
Clive Richmond said...
I would really like to see Mos Def as Holmes, I was watching something with him a few months ago and could not help but think that he would be perfect for the titular role in the inevitable new Sherlock Holmes film.
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