Merrick here...

USA Today features an interesting article on the making of Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES (due in theaters 'round Christmas).

The piece includes discussions on developing the "bromantic" relationship between Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr. ) and Watson (Jude Law), and discusses the tribulations of getting The Powers That Be to buy into this particular interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth.

"To persuade those who "did not get it," Wigram wrote a graphic novel and had an artist depict Sherlock in comic-book form. The image that convinced the studio suits? The sleuth, scruffy and stubbly, with a whip in one hand and a sword in the other.

"We are trying to make a fun adventure movie," he says. "My favorites are the Bond films. Raiders of the Lost Ark. I want to make a movie like that."

...says Producer Lionel Wigram in a discussion whose entirety can be found HERE.

Follow the trail to the article's image gallery...where you can find some new images from the project.