“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!”
… written in Gallifreyan.
The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
This is a first glimpse of an ageing Sherlock Holmes, as played by Sir Ian McKellen in upcoming film Mr Holmes. McKellen tweeted: “Over 70 actors have previously played Sherlock Holmes. Now he’s 93 years old and it’s my turn. #MrHolmes,”.
McKellen, actually a sprightly 75, is playing almost 20 years older in the adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, which sees a retired, elderly Holmes eeking out his remaining years in a remote Sussex farmhouse, keeping bees and grappling with his waning mental powers, until a 50-year-old unsolved case returns to haunt him.
Saw a bunch of Victorian London tattoos:
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This may me think of Sherlock Holmes, and possibly something loosely asked on the original Strand drawings done by Sidney Paget:
Throw in some Jeremy Brett, for good measure:
And some ambiance, for inspiration:
More inspiration:
This warrants ruminations….
Crucial elements that need to be in the design:
– 221b, the tobacco slipper, the violin, the books, the mess, the chemistry experiments, the drugs
– The pipe and magnifying glass
– London in the fog, a bridge, Big Ben, cobblestones, gas light, assorted Victoriana
– A general mood of mystery, tension, and dread.
Oooooh! Now he gets to wear a t-shirt that says “I’m Gandalf, Magneto and Sherlock! Deal with it!” :D
In recent years the sleuthing of Sherlock Holmes has been depicted as ass-kicking and wisecracking in Guy Ritchie’s movies, and as drily witty and cerebrally thrilling in the BBC TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. But now a new, quieter side to Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective is set to reach the screen: his old age, after he retired to keep bees.
Ian McKellen is set to play Holmes in A Slight Trick of the Mind, adapted from the 2005 novel by Mitch Cullin which imagines Holmes’s twilight years, alluded to in Doyle’s novels. The film will depict him working on his final case aged 63, and also retired in Sussex aged 91, mentally frail and obsessed with the unsolved crime. Laura Linney will play his housekeeper, Mrs Munro, whose son Holmes has a fatherly attachment to.
The film will be directed by Bill Condon, who has worked on acclaimed films with each of the actors before: the Oscar-winning Gods and Monsters with McKellen, and his Alfred Kinsey biopic with Linney. “It’s a really great mystery about who Sherlock Holmes is, but it’s also a lovely, delicate movie about what happens as you get older,” Condon told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m looking forward to the combined talent, skills, and smarts [of Linney and McKellen]. Both of them are incredibly detail-oriented and do an amazing amount of work before they get to set, and then they dive off the board and become their characters.”
RITCHIE’S HOLMES SEQUEL UNDER THREAT FROM WRITER’S ESTATE
The executors of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary estate have threatened to withdraw Guy Ritchie’s rights to the SHERLOCK HOLMES story if the director hints at a homosexual relationship between the lead characters in his sequel.
Robert Downey, Jr., who plays the supersleuth in Ritchie’s new movie adaption, recently appeared on David Letterman’s U.S. talk show and hinted at a homoerotic subtext in the relationship between his character and Jude Law’s Dr. Watson. During the interview the actor also asked the audience to decide whether Holmes is “a very butch homosexual.”
But Downey, Jr.’s comments have infuriated Andrea Plunket, who controls the remaining U.S. copyrights to the Holmes story, and she’s threatened to withdraw permission for a follow-up if Ritchie suggests the detective is more than just friends with his sidekick. She says, “I hope this is just an example of Mr Downey’s black sense of humour. It would be drastic, but I would withdraw permission for more films to be made if they feel that is a theme they wish to bring out in the future. I am not hostile to homosexuals, but I am to anyone who is not true to the spirit of the books.”
Current Mood: Amused
Guy Ritchie is to take a look at an older style of crime movie with a new Sherlock Holmes adaptation
The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director has been contracted by Warner Bros Studios to helm a film based on an upcoming comic book about the detective.
Sherlock Holmes, set for a 2010 release, will be based on an as-yet-unpublished graphic novel take on the Arthur Conan Doyle creation by former Warner Bros creative executive Lionel Wigram, who will also produce the film alongside Dan Lin.
Though the plot of Wigram’s approach to the 19th century detective remains a secret, it is believed it reimagines Holmes as a more adventurous character, who exploits his pugilistic talents and swordsmanship, according to Variety. Warner Bros has been considering a new cinematic approach to the Baker Street resident for a number of years, with The Descent director Neil Marshall at one point attached to direct.
Ritchie will now rewrite a script penned by Michael Johnson and based on Wigram’s comic.
Current Mood: Happy