*shudder*

Sounds like a weird mix but Downey Jnr is cool and guy Ritchie has flair so maybee it will kind of work, I liked the sleuthing double act of Downey and Kilmer in Kiss Kiss but they need a brit for balance so what about Ricky Gervaise as Watson?

not sure about Ritchies period credencials either!?

We'll see...

if this is going to be an All-American cast, then I vote Bruce Campbell for Watson!

look it up, kids.

As for watson, the dude who plays Hagred in the Potter films is perfect as a Watson role. In fact, I think he already played that character in the Jack The Ripper movie with Depp. And speaking of Mr Depp, thank God this role didn't go to him. Word on the street is that it was offered and he declined.

as you can see, I have fine taste in television, and a horrible memory.

That said, you've got to give props to Basil Rathbone, who more than anyone else probably defined what we still consider the proper "look and feel" of Holmes to this very day, and everyone that has come after have a debt to pay to Rathbone in some way. And I know that Jeremy Brett, having played the role off an on over the course of a decade on British TV also has more than his fair share of fans.

The most recent attempts at Holmes by Richard Roxburgh, Rupert Everett and Jonathan Pryce all fell pretty damn flat in my opinion, and I never could get used to Matt "Max Headroom" Frewer in the role in the series of Canadian tv movies that he did a few years back. And does anyone else remember the poorly animated Sherlock Holmes animated movies of the mid 80's, with the voice of a slumming Peter O'Toole as Holmes? Always thought he would have made a great live action Holmes, but it was never to be. And of course Christopher Plummer also played him twice, most famously in Murder by Decree, and he made for a fine Holmes as well. As did Ian richardson in his two shots at the role in the mid 80's.

Of course that doesn't even scratch the surface on the sheer amount of times that Holmes has been played on big and small screen, with everyone from Michael Caine, who was superb as a non traditional take on Holmes opposite Ben Kingsley's Watson in the comedic Without a Clue, through to the likes of Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes in the then well regarded, but now largely forgotten early 80's Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson tv series, and Christopher Lee in the odd 60's German Holmes movie (where they dubbed over his voice with another actor, even in the English language version!), a role he returned several decades later to in a pair of so-so early 90's tv movies.

Holmes has also been played by Doctor Who's Tom Baker, by Spartacus himself, Charlton Heston, by the Equalizer, Edward Woodward, by John Steed aka Patrick MacNee (who also played Watson opposite Christopher Lee), and let's not forget Young Sherlock Holmes Nicholas Rowe, or Peter Cook as Holmes, opposite Dudley Moore as Watson in their comedic late 70's version. Hell there was even Return of the Jedi's Michael Pennington as a cryogenically frozen Holmes in modern times, not to mention Excalibur's Nicol Williamson as Holmes being tricked by Watson (a badly miscast Robert Duvall) undergoing therapy from Sigmund Freud (played by Alan Arkin no less) in the distinctly odd 7% Solution. And if that wasn't enough, former James Bond, Roger Moore, one time Skeletor and Dracula Frank Langella and british screen legend Stewart Granger all also took a shot at Holmes, to varying (and more often than not, poor) results.

One thing is for sure, whether Downey jr works in the role or not, it won't in any way damage Holmes as a viable character, nor will it affect the chances of seeing another actor taking on the role again in the future. So given that, why the hell not? Plus which, after Chaplin back in the day I wouldn't bet against him nailing Holmes as well. Or at the very least giving us an interesting interpretation of the character. Guy Ritchie on the other hand, now he's the far more a danger of screwing this up. We'll see I guess.