Cool News
Dr. Watson Is Fighting Around The World!!
Beaks here...
The Daily Herald, that venereal Australian tabloid, is reporting (via a "movie source"!) that Russell Crowe is hot to play Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's forthcoming SHERLOCK HOLMES. Though I've no difficulty buying Crowe in what has traditionally been a co-lead (Watson's the narrator of most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes mysteries), the fact that Robert Downey Jr. will supposedly be playing up the more pugilistic side of the detective makes me think this rumor has all the validity of Britney Spears starring in Quentin Tarantino's FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! I mean, maybe Crowe would love to go against his bruiser type as he did so brilliantly in THE INSIDER and A BEAUTIFUL MIND, but in terms of sheer physicality, I just can't see that working opposite Downey Jr. And I definitely can't see mainstream audiences going for it, even after IRON MAN.
Crowe, not a "movie source", recently went on the record about his interest in developing (and perhaps starring in) a Bill Hicks biopic. I don't know how close that is to happening, but Crowe will almost certainly do something to pass the time while he waits out this seven-month delay on NOTTINGHAM (caused by a pesky changing of the seasons). Just don't expect that "something" to be SHERLOCK HOLMES.
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I thought this movie was about that little program that tells me what's wrong with Windows :(
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....just because it seems like it shouldn't be. That seems to happen a lot.
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I think of a bob Hoskins type, not Crowe, I could even imagine PSH as Watson to RDJ's Holmes over Crowe
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Sep 01, 2008 8:00:24 PM CDT
I remember thinking a Pitt/Clooney casting would never work...
by the eskimo
...b/c it would be a clash of 2 alpha male leading men, both pretty boys, both pretty similar in age and acting-chops, wanting to do things "their" way and overall draging the movie down. Boy was I ever wrong. I may be proven wrong when this new one comes out, though. The one where Pitt is a personal trainer and get's punched in the face by JV. That looks like ass.
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...I think J Bridges or PS Hoffman would have been more in line with what I expected.
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If you people ever read the source material instead of just relying on previous movie incarnations, you'd know that Watson is often described as the more dashing, handsome, and physically intimidating of the pair. Holmes is a fencer; Watson is a boxer. Watson is also seen as something of a ladies man.
The fat, bumbling Watson you're all thinking of is purely a cinematic invention.
Wonder if they'll also have Holmes shooting coke . . . -
Except that, in Ritchie's version, they're apparently playing up Holmes's "skills" as a boxer as well.
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It takes more than one star to open a movie. RDJ may be Iron Man, but he's generous actor who doesn't mind sharing the spotlight. To say that Ritchie has fallen on hard times is being kind. Snatch and Lock Stock are basically the same film, and Swept Away and Revolver are beyond bad. Can't wait for Holmes to spout some Kabbalah references.
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Sep 01, 2008 8:37:14 PM CDT
If they're playing up unconventional angles on Sherlock Holmes..
by scottgreen
It would be interesting it they emphasized Watson's history as an Afghanistan veteran.
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I believe it was Holmes that was the boxer, if i recall correctly he talked about how he did it in college. Your right on all other accounts of Watson tho he was supposedly the taller and better looking of the two. He was also recently out of the army and aside from his old (migrating)war wound which was at first in his shoulder then later in his leg he was considered just as fit and limber as Holmes. Crowe would be perfect for the role and I'd love to see these two on screen together.
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But who is Scott Green. I've been coming to AICN on a regular basis since at least 1998. Have never read an article written by him of heard of him at all. Just wonder who it is.
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I'll be pedantic and suggest you look at the contact page. I'm guessing the unfamiliar is due to your disinterest in a particular topic.
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Would make a great younger Moriarty!
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Watson was never a bumbling old man in the novels. He was supposed to be about the same age as Holmes (Late 30's) and actually quite a dashing fellow. He was also quite the ladies man and charismatic and a good brawler. Crowe can still play late 30's very well. Though both Edward Hardwicke and David Burke exibited alot of the right Watson qualities both were far too old and slight to be Watson. This would be brilliant if true. Not sure about Downey though, love him but not sure. There have been alot of actors to play Holmes and only one was perfect and that was Jeremy Brett.
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really is a hack. This Rocknrolla business looks like ANOTHER cookie-cutter clone of footage scraped off Tarantino's cutting room floor circa 1994. The man himself appears to be 100% pure affectation. Let's just say his origins aren't anywhere near as humble as his public persona would lead you to conclude.
The frankly offensive caricature of London's east end is always defended by his advocated as "hyper-realism", but that's nothing more than a tenuous pretext for lazy scripting.
Heightened realism is all well and good, but it can be used to cover a multitude of sins.
This Sherlock Holmes thing may appeal to Americans, but I think it fills most of my countrymen with dread. When I read on here that it was going to be "a contemporary approach" with plenty of martial arts, I cringed. Whether that content is there in the source material or not, bringing it to the fore was certainly not Conan Doyle's intention. Attempts to force period pieces into a contemporary stylistic mode tend to meet with spectacular failure. They're painful to watch. Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet may be an exception I suppose...
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I really hope they are fucking smart enough to use the Jeremy Brett series as the blueprint.
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can be trusted with this material. Layer Cake was a good, nuanced piece. It had similar beats to a Ritchie film, but felt like it wasn't being handled by a steroidal fourteen year-old.
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Australian tabloid gag.
"Oh but we don't need no stinkin' grammar and spellin'! This is the internets!"
Yes indeedy. -
hes gonna put Madonna in it i know it. btw holmes should not know martial arts what are u guys talking about and did anyone see that old TV movie called sherlock shoing sherlock holmes having a threesome. i almost puked after watching that any depiction of the guy would do.
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The closest any portrayal has gotten to Watson was in the Grenada series (also the best Holmes period). This would definately be more in line with books. My only gripe about all the portrayals of both is age - in the first Holmes story Holmes and Watson are both in their late 20's if I remember correctly - too often I think they are cast as being old men. I just hope they don't "modernize" the series ala the BBC's Robin Hood abortion. Damn I'm rambling
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I'm skeptical about the truth of this, but the person who said they pictured a Bob Hoskins or Phillip Seymour Hoffman type doesn't know the character. Watson was younger than Holmes, and is not the fay, white mustached buffoon that we saw in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce films.
Whoever said "worry about Ritchie, not Crowe" . . . amen. I want to see Martin Campbell attached to this. If we have to see an action oriented Holmes, then the man who brought Zorro into a new centruy and rescusitated Bond twice would be a much better choice than a man who's judgement is so poor that he married Madonna. -
As an Englishman and a big fan of Holmes I can get over the fact they're not Brits.
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I haven't heard about that - boxing and fencing yes but I haven't seen martial arts referenced in any articles. I must admit Guy Ritchie directing this does worry me a little.
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I said his advocates defend his work on that basis.
And well done for using wikipedia so adroitly. I've always been more of a Frankfurt school man myself, but then Baudrillard seems to be perpetually de rigueur among night school media studies students. Deleuze, Bataille and Agamben seem to be in again this year, so do keep up. Thanks for the schoolin' though. That sure did put me in my fully-funded doctorate place. -
yes please! hell, now that i look at two pics side by side, they do look alike, but i'm sitting in the dark, squinting, and half drunk.....no, i take that back---three quarters.
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I'm not worried about Ritchie at all.
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Sep 01, 2008 9:24:56 PM CDT
Oh, yeah? Well Jude Law is in Afghanistan promoting peace!
by thebearovingian
Because you won't!
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Yeah, I read about that today. Ghastly isn't it?
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He'll be fine, sure. It's British cinema I'm worried about.
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No one thought ANYONE was clamoring to see a movie about the Titanic either. I'd rather see Sherlock revived then 99% of the shit that Hollywood puts out these days.
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please ignore previous post. It's late and I'm pissy. I don't think either of us are particularly into academic cock-fencing contests. I apologise.
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Sep 01, 2008 9:58:28 PM CDT
I've started reading the Holmes stories for the first time...
by nasty in the pasty
...and Watson is portrayed as FAR more physically capable on the page than he's even been presented in the movies. That said, taking one of the great literary DEDUCERS and playing up his boxing skills for a movie is completely against the character's core appeal...his intellect.
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People seem to be inferring in this talk back that this will be 21st century update. Do we know this for sure? I've read most of the articles and seen most of the interviews with Ritchie and I've yet to here him say its going to be modernised. Personally I think they should keep it as a period piece, I love Holmes, one of my all time favorite characters but I'm not sure he works in the CSI era. I would love to see them keep it in the original time period but still make it tense and adventurous.
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It'll be a period piece, but I inferred from the comicon chatter that it'll be a contemporary take in terms of portrayal and cinematography. Think Plunkett and Maclean... if you can stomach it.
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still waiting for that one...
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In the books that followed "the final solution" Holmes tells Watson about his scuffle with Moriarty and reveals his use of the fictional martial art of Baritsu.
Why they want to elaborate on something that is only mentioned a few times in the later stories can only be attributed to modern audiences insistence that their heroes use martial arts all the time these days. -
I only expect about 20 minutes of screen time for Watson and Holmes. The rest is a calvalcade of one-dimensional throwaway characters robbing banks, dealing drugs, and shooting each other up "wif ah Des'rt Eoagol, fouve pwoint oah." It was nice once, but you can only watch a pony do the same trick so many times. . .
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Paul Giamatti. I think he and RDJ would work well together. Giamatti is absolutely more "Watsonesque" than Crowe.
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Doyle's original stories are filled with examples of Holmes' physical abilities... In the very first story "A Study in Scarlet," Watson describes him as an expert boxer, singlestick player and fencer. And the prizefighter McMurdo sings his praises as a boxer in "The Sign of the Four." As mentioned earlier, Holmes' skill at Baritsu saved his life when he confronted Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in "The Final Problem."
Watson was also an accomplished athlete. The story "The Sussex Vampire" includes a reference to his past on the Blackheath rugby squad. Others have also mentioned that he's a military veteran who saw combat in Afghanistan. -
So please people stop picking guys like PS Hoffman and Giamatti.
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...in the first story, he introduces himself as a veteran of a foreign war-- was it the Boer War? Somebody remind me.
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You stole my idea! Giamatti for Watson! Ed Norton for Holmes! I love RDJ as much as the next heterosexual moviegoer, but he's best when given witty dialogue to chew, not contemplating tobacco ashes in an abandoned house. MrClark, rewatch the Illusionist and tell me Giamatti was short and frumpy in that. The man's got range, chum!
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..another Holmes movie in the works with Ferrel and Cohen? What the dickens? As far as Ritchie goes, I've never seen anything by him that's grabbed my sack. I don't know. Layer Cake was alright, but everything else seems borish. Brad Pitt was good in Snatch though. I'll never understand the praise for his films otherwise. Kinda like Boondock Saints. That movie suuucked.
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I'm not saying he doesn't have range, both Giamatti and PS Hoffman are very talented actors. Giamatti was short and frumpy in the Illusionist. Its not a question of talents its about who fits the character.
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So have the notably taller, and considerably heftier Crowe alongside him could be kind of awkward.
I'm not so sure about the validity of this at any rate. the Herald is hardly a quality news source -
Sep 01, 2008 11:48:48 PM CDT
I hope I wake up to a Shield Talkback Tomorrow!!!
by badass_harry_callahan
The beginning of the end starts tomorrow night for the best show on TV. And no it is not LOST! Vic Mackey Returns!
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Could be fantastic!
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I've been waiting my whole life to see a serious treatment of Sherlock Holmes on the big screen. He's been limited to TV for far to long. I'm fond of "Young Sherlock Holmes" and "Without a Clue," but both movies were far removed from Doyle's character.
Having seen Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany work together in "A Beautiful Mind" and "Master and Commander," I could easily see them resuming their partnership as Holmes and Watson. I think Bettany would be a credible Holmes. But Crowe has such a strong alpha male presence, it would be hard as a viewer to accept him in a subordinate role. While Watson should be strong and capable, he must always remain the archetypal sidekick. The only way he cleary outshines Holmes is with his depth and ability to express emotions. -
my favorite sherlock holmes movie is when Dr. Watson calls in Sigmund Freud, who admits to a cocaine addiction, to helps Holmes kick his Opium habit.
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Why give him Sherlock Holmes? Still RDJ is a decent choice. He's a great actor, and although he isn't british he can sure mimic the accent better than other shit American actors (I'm looking at you Natalie Portman).
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Don't see the need for quotation marks. Character was a skilled university boxer and doled out a few smackdowns in the books. Sherlock hard as nails in the stories, not least after the spell in the East following the Falls fight with Moriarty.
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Holmes does makes reference to something like "Baritsu" or "Bartistu" haven't checked at the mo, but think he's into some form of stick fighting, and also some Eastern wrestling, possibly Judo. He comes back from his supposed death at the start of Return with quite a thing for the East. Robert Downey apparently quite into it to and said he's getting martial arts sorted for the flick.
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this flick is doing location shoots in Liverpool. Authentic, period looking docklands/ warehouses over at the Canning Docks.
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I guess getting someone to fit the Sherlock Holmes character is a bit like trying to find the right James Bond, or even Bruce Wayne. We have our own ideas and visualizations of who might be like them the most, but, and I do like RDJ, I just cannot see it. He may act the character very well, but he just simply doesn't look the part. Maybe not all of Ritchie's movies work, but if anything, he does have a great knack of putting minor actors, sometimes unknowns on film and it works. I wish he could spend some time to really search for this role, and of Watson. Possibly the studio want big names! If you get a chance, check the name Jeremy Brett. In my mind, he was as close to Holmes as you could have got.
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but then again I find all that cockney wide-boy stuff ridiculous. I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of Snatch.
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it's Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges.
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1) You're an idiot...
2) News alert! People over 26yrs old go to the cinema... They're the ones who tend to see the films with the story lines... And not just stupid effects... -
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=23155
Straight from Guy Ritchie's mouth, Crowe hasn't even been considered as yet. -
is erratic. Even grim. I think the public was finally sick of the guy behaving like an asswipe.
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Holmes is going to the manor to spill some fucking claret.Ritchie is a one trick pony . . .and that trick wasn't particularly good
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Peter Cushing (sample the Hammer adaptation of HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES).
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morgan freeman is dr. watson.
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Nothing about this fills me with love. Nothing. On a different note, last summer I was sitting in the pub on the top of Baker St laughing hysterically at tourists getting fleeced in 221b Baker St- the Sherlock Holmes museum. You have to admire the people that owned 221 Baker St. By simply painting "b" on the door they have a license to print money.
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..to film this I am personally gonna rob his fuckin shoes the faux
cockney wide-boy turd -
Sep 02, 2008 8:18:18 AM CDT
I think both Ritchie and Downey Jr. are wrong for this.
by knuckleduster
I like Robert Downey as much as the next guy. He's a great actor, but he's just not Sherlock Holmes. Even if the movie turns out to be great and Downey gives an awesome performance, he just doesn't look like Holmes. It's like getting Ryan Gosling to play Conan. Good actor, but he just isn't Conan. I hope the film proves me wrong, but with Ritchie at the helm, I have my doubts.
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In response to thegreatwhatzit... Cushing is indeed great in the "Hammer Hound," but the film leaves much to be desired. I'll give it credit for being the first version of Hound to be filmed in color. But the photography was not up to snuff. Several nighttime scenes were obviously and distractingly shot in the daytime. And the transformation of Beryl Stapleton into an oversexualized seductress was just plain bizarre. I'd love to see Cushing in a more faithful adaption.
I understand he filmed a second Hound adaption for a TV series on the BBC. Cushing replaced Douglas Wilmer as the series lead after the first season. I've heard nothing but good things about the show, but have been unable to find it in the US. Does anyone at AICN know if it has ever been released on DVD? -
Please kick the everloving shit out of Ritchie and steal his stuff. You do this anyway, so you may as well do it to someone that deserves it.
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they're planning to play up the heroin addiction aspects of the story; aspects that were previously only hinted at - which made them so interesting and captivating. They were throw-away references of something not-quite-confirmed but always alluded to.
He'll be a stoned out coked up Less Than Zero kind of detective.
In other words: suck. -
He was an army doctor in Afghanistan.
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the bricks are ready to prop up his car, and hell yea he deserves it
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Beerisgood said
"who the FUCK is asking to see a Sherlock Holmes movie? Seriously? Is Hollywood that dumb to think that 13-26 year olds are just craving an SH movie? What the fuck? No, they're not. Done. See ya."
who gives a flying fuck what 13-26 years old think. All hollywood blockbusters should be tested only on people over the age of 25 who've passed an iq test and got over 125. Then the stupid morons that say Transformers,Tombraider and Crystal Skull are great movies would see what real good movies should be like.god i miss the eighties blockbusters. -
your a fucking moron i cant believe your touting the use of demographics as a good thing. Your an advertising executives wet dream you product whore
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Yea, your argument is pretty thin. On the other hand, the few who have expressed their opinion of you on here have proven themselves to be probably under the age of 13.
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In the stories it is often noted that Holmes is an excellent bare-knuckle pugilist who might have turned pro.
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Watson is in no way the equal of Holmes. Doyle wrote Watson as an ideal "everyman" Englishman of the age - not an intellectual, not "clever" in the Continental sense like Holmes, but loyal, brave, determined and honourable.
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OK I got it! Morgan Freeman as Watson and....Kevin Costner as Holmes!!!!! The reunion of the Robin of Prince of Theives cast! I mean that movie proved that Kevin Costner can do a perfect english accent! Brilliant no? Hello? Anyone?
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I would be disappointed if the new movie dwells on Holmes' drug use. It's a subject that's been addressed endlessly (at least in print) since Nicholas Meyer published the "Seven Percent Solution" back in the 70s. A mediocre film starring Nicol Williamson followed. The Granada series also dealt with Holmes' addiction. The story arc culminated in the episode "The Devil's Foot" in which Holmes buries his syringe, presumably never to use cocaine again.
Incidentally, a previous poster is incorrect when he cited heroin as Holmes' drug of choice. It was a 7% solution of cocaine, injected similar to heroin. Watson also mentions in "The Sign of Four" that Holmes occassionally uses morphine, but he was never shown using it any of the 60 original stories.
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