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Filed under: Action, Classics, Romance, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
No one seems to know how to feel about Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes -- it has Robert Downey Jr. in the lead, and yet the buzz is curiously off. Of course, it's difficult to get too excited about a movie that dodges its source material in favor of a comic book that has yet to be released. It puts discussion in a bit of a nowhere land.

But, I'm going to try anyway. Ritchie talked a bit about the Victorian reboot to USA Today. "It will be a very big production, visceral and intellectual," Ritchie said. "His brilliance will percolate into the action. His intellect was as much of a curse as it was a blessing. He was a deeply layered character." And he's not particularly concerned about Sasha Baron Cohen's comedic version. "They don't even have a script yet. We are way ahead."

And how did they snag the Iron Man-of-the-Moment? Downey Jr. became involved due to his wife, Susan, who is one of RocknRolla's producers, and an early fan of the film. His English accent, Ritchie insists "is flawless." I hope it's improved since his Restoration days.

While USA Today says there's no word on the casting of the villain, Digital Spy was reporting (via Ritchie at Empire's BFI Movie-Con) that the honor was going to Mark Strong. But there has been no official confirmation of that, and Warner Bros refused to even comment. Casting is expected to be finished in six weeks. But what characters from the Conan Doyle canon will appear is a mystery. Ritchie hasn't confirmed the appearance of Professor Moriarty, but he has said there will be a love interest based on Irene Adler, who appeared in the original Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia. Holmes' admiration for Adler is legendary -- and it speaks well to Ritchie and Lionel Wigram's take that they are including such well known characters.

Join me in being cautiously optimistic about this project. After all, the film world is always harping on Ritchie to break his gangster mold, so let's support him when he does.

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