Sherlock Holmes

[GeneChing]

elementary...


Sherlock Holmes with a Kick (http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/18834.html)
11-Aug-2008
Written by: Dean Stattmann

This Sherlock will have more than a magnifying glass up his sleeve.

With Robert Downey, Jr. fans still distracted by the actor’s exhilarating portrayal of Iron Man, let alone his hilarious role as Kirk Lazarus in Ben Stiller’s summer comedy, Tropic Thunder, the less than malleable superhero has something a little different in store.

The actor’s current project (and by no means the only one) is a revival of the world’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. But while most people will claim to have the good Sherlock all figured out, Downey’s character will not be so elementary.

“It will be director Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It's a contemporary version of a classic tale. But we're not telling one of the stories from the books.”

That’s right. And you know what contemporary version means: action, action, action . . . and probably some sex.

“The cool thing about Sherlock is he's a very skilled martial artist,” Downey said. “So it's not just about his deductions. This movie will also be a very action-packed version of Sherlock Holmes.”

Luckily for us, action is Downey’s recently adopted middle name, and the star is more than up to the task of playing an intellectual ninja. “I'm always training. I'm big into martial arts,” he told the Sun-Times. “We're putting together a team of people to do something more transcendent with the fighting for the movie.”

“I love bare knuckled boxing,” he continued. “It's real balls to the walls brutal stuff. Guy is a martial artist and I'm a martial arts student. So you'll get all the Sherlock stuff, but hopefully much more fun.”

[SimonM]

Holmes having martial arts training is referenced in at least one of Conan Doyle's stories.

Unfortunately I forget which story and which martial art.

[X_plosion]

He said it was "Baritsu" (sic), probably meant to refer to the Bartitsu derived from JJJ.

It was in that story after his staged plunge to death in the waterfall.

[SimonM]

That's the story!

Thanks!

[冠木侍]

One of my favorite reads. I remember taking on the entire volume at one time. But that was some time ago. I still have a limited edition copy that I put away somewhere. Anyhow, great read.

I remember reading about the waterfall incident but not what he studied. He knew something...although not known much for his physicality, I don't doubt that it was always a trump card. He

What got me interested in the first place was Basil Rathbone's portrayal. I liked his series of SH the best out of the others. The audio tapes of his radio show were fun to listen to when I was younger (yeah tapes).

I find that a lot of people don't appreciate the good ole' B & W movies anymore...

I never doubted Downey Jr's acting ability, even though he was going through some rough patches in his personal life. It hard to tell how things will turn out.

[GeneChing]

Do you think there will be wire work and CGI fights? :rolleyes:

Early look: Downey/Law are elementary to new 'Sherlock' (http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-05-05-sherlock-holmes-main_N.htm)
Updated 14h 53m ago
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The renowned London residence at 221B Baker Street has temporarily relocated to the Marcy Avenue Armory.

On a sound stage inside the cavernous building, time travels back to 1891 as two men in Victorian garb occupy a second-floor flat. Strewn about is all manner of masculine-type clutter — investigative tools, dusty books, souvenirs from exotic lands, anatomical drawings, rotten apple cores, crushed walnut shells, neglected plants and preserved animals parts.

MORE: Get clued in on Downey's shabbier Sherlock

Jude Law's dapper Dr. John H. Watson, preparing to leave both his bachelor and sleuthing days behind, packs up his belongings in the tidier portion of the apartment. Robert Downey Jr.'s wiry Sherlock Holmes, deeply perturbed by his friend's pending departure after a decade together as crime-fighting colleagues, answers a knock at the door.

Suddenly, a recently deceased body is dropped on a table in the middle of the room by two constables.

Watson: "Who is he?"

Holmes: "That's my new roommate."

You won't find that chummy exchange in any of Arthur Conan Doyle's exploits of the great detective. Nor does it lurk in the script for Sherlock Holmes, the Dec. 25 release that marks the first major big-screen adaptation of the private eye's adventures since Michael Caine's comical sham of a Sherlock in 1988's Without a Clue.

Downey, 44, and Law, 36, jazzed up the dialogue on the spot, with an assist from director/writer Guy Ritchie, the artist formerly known as Madonna's husband and a specialist in nimbly paced gangster capers (1998's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 2000's Snatch, last year's RocknRolla) that rely heavily upon male interaction and relentless cursing.

The language has been tamed for this PG-13 outing. But manly bonding between bohemian Holmes and bourgeois Watson is at the core of the story. Trendy types might even describe it as a "bromance," especially when Downey's detective bristles at the very thought of his friend's nuptials coming between them. But the relationship takes its cues from a long line of what used to be known simply as buddy films.

"There are many duos we wanted to draw from," Law says. "Something as eccentric as The Odd Couple to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Withnail and I and Laurel and Hardy. It's the kind of friendship you can only have with someone of the same sex, a person you adore but who infuriates you."

A Holmes fan at the helm

After 73 days of shooting what Warner Bros. hopes is not only a holiday blockbuster but the launch of a franchise, the actors are comfortable enough in their personas that improvising in character is a breeze. "Initially, we were just infusing the dialogue with Doyle-isms," says Downey, who dons a jaunty fedora and oft-disheveled attire in a break from more conservative portraits of the gumshoe. Law, a rather trim Watson who is more of a brawler than a bumbler, kept a notebook handy with scribbled phrases from the original tales just in case.

"Now we tend to speak a little more on his behalf," Downey says, referring to Sherlock's inventor. "Truth be told, we have been working our tokheses off. We've been at it for a long, long, long time."

Yet the atmosphere is decidedly easygoing. Between takes, the star cracks jokes and affectionately hugs wife Susan, a producer on the film. Meanwhile, Mark Strong, the strikingly tall Ritchie regular who plays a satanic aristocrat of a villain named Lord Blackwood, strides by while incongruously toting a Bliss Spa bag.

"It's such a relaxed set, even if it's at the tail end of the shoot," Downey observes. Adding to the calm is fair-haired and boyish Ritchie, 40, as he strums his acoustic guitar like a Zen troubadour while waiting for shooting to resume.

If Ritchie is feeling under the gun as he oversees his first big-budget period piece while transitioning from laddish art-house romps to mainstream crowd-pleasers, there are no clues to support it.

Says Strong, who was in Ritchie's Revolver and RocknRolla: "He is exactly the same as he was on his last two movies. You only panic if you don't know what you are supposed to be doing."

Did Ritchie consider that he might be asking for trouble by messing with a literary icon?

"I didn't really think of the downside as much as I thought about the upside," the filmmaker says. "I was a Holmes fan when I was a child. They are the first stories I remember. I also liked the approach the studio was coming at. To me, it was the perfect segue from small independent films to something more ambitious and quintessentially English. So I've got my cake and I can eat it."

Not that it hasn't been a challenge for cast and crew both here and in England as they attempt to drag a well-etched 19th-century archetype, personified by a suave if snooty Basil Rathbone in 14 films in the '30s and '40s, into the 21st century for an action-hero makeover.

"Sherlock was perceived as stuffy and old-fashioned," says Lionel Wigram, a producer on the Harry Potter series who initiated the revival about a decade ago. "I thought the TV ones (including, most recently, those starring Jeremy Brett and Rupert Everett) were wonderful, but in a Masterpiece Theatre kind of way. It felt like there was a great opportunity to do something bigger than that."

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."

Familiarity does breed box office. "The word of the day is 'branding,' " says Hollywood mogul Joel Silver, another of the film's producers and a force behind the Die Hard and Matrix series. "We are always looking for branded ideas. Audiences are interested in seeing something they know."

But with a difference, too. This Holmes is as brainy as ever but is a bruiser as well. Bare-fisted boxing, sword fighting and a mastery of martial arts have been added to his arsenal of weapons.

[GeneChing]

...from above

Upholding the traditions

Many of the Holmesian conventions remain, such as Sherlock's keen eye for case-cracking details and a playful fondness for disguises. He refrains from indulging in cocaine — a nod to the family-friendly rating — but still fiddles with the violin to fill the void between jobs. But any whiff of parlor-room gentility is blown away by flashily edited fisticuffs and dangerous derring-do in grungy sewers, a pig slaughterhouse and atop Tower Bridge — a large portion of which is replicated on a green-screen-shrouded set around the corner.

Tradition is also upheld. There is a mystery afoot, naturally, as Strong's industrialist, who holds sway over a cult of dark-arts practitioners and claims to possess supernatural powers, is linked to a series of murders. While Blackwood is an invention based on real-life occultist Aleister Crowley, Professor Moriarty — Sherlock's most notorious foe — puts in a fleeting appearance. As for a love interest, Rachel McAdams proves to be a tempting distraction as the deceptive Irene Adler, who outwitted the private eye in Conan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia and is the lone woman to ever earn his admiration.

But the notion of an athletic Sherlock engaged in the martial arts — a skill that Conan Doyle himself mentions in The Adventure of the Empty House— ignited a powder keg of early negativity, especially in British tabloids and online outlets. "Nunchuk Holmes" is what Guardian blogger Marina Hyde derisively dubbed the film. The director himself came in for a few hits. An item on the website Den of Geek bore the headline, "Guy Ritchie gets his mockney claws into Sherlock Holmes. Be afraid."

Law, who pored through Conan Doyle's writings in preparation for his role, points out that many so-called liberties in the script merely are expansions on what is alluded to in the original stories.

"The physicality, the bare-knuckle fighting, the martial arts are all hinted at in the books," he says. "We just hold a magnifying glass over them. A word that Conan Doyle uses an awful lot is 'apprehended.' As in, 'Holmes and Watson apprehend the villain.' We get to show the apprehension."

However, the naysaying didn't stop once the cameras rolled last fall. The news media began to label the production as cursed after a series of unfortunate incidents, including Ritchie's divorce from his pop-star wife of eight years, Downey's injuries during a fight scene that required six stitches and an exploding tanker truck.

Most potentially damaging, however, was a claim made in mid-February by U.K. tabloid The Sun that the studio, dissatisfied by an early cut, demanded that Ritchie redo five weeks of filming. Warner Bros. swiftly put out a statement denying the rumor. "The re-shoots were pure fiction," says Silver. "It was great to see this story come out while we were actually still shooting the movie. To read this incredible account was funny to me."

But pre-opening buzz has been on the upswing ever since Downey introduced footage that was warmly received by theater owners at the ShoWest convention in March. The first trailer, which will accompany Terminator Salvation when it opens May 21, aims to put lingering doubts to rest.

Wigram thinks jealousy might be at the root of the initial bad-mouthing. "Guy is a great filmmaker," he says. "He reinvented a whole genre, the gangster genre. That is a great achievement. I used to pitch this as a Guy Ritchie version of a Sherlock Holmes movie. There was never any question that he would be an absolutely perfect fit for it."

Besides, he adds, "in terms of what they say about him, if you are married to Madonna, you're bound to get a certain amount of that. It's absurd to mock his talent. "

Time will tell if Sherlock Holmes becomes a new standard for resurrecting old heroes. Already, there is talk of how Russell Crowe's tights-free Robin Hood will be given a Gladiator injection of macho grit — and Strong will play an evil henchman.

Meanwhile, Ritchie takes a moment to reflect while set builders hammer away nearby. "There is one more week, but I'm in no rush to end," he says. "I am enjoying it. I like coming to work."

Yet he is also eager for Sherlock Holmes to open and show audiences another side of his talents. Told that people probably want to see him do something different, he says with a smile, "So do I."

[doug maverick]

had alot of friends work on this film. there was some wire work, but they are going for a more brutal stylized type of fighting.alot of accidents on that set in the fights. **** even downey caught one to the grill!!!its like a weird mix of wing chun and BJJ

[Yoshiyahu]

Robert Downey Jr. Has a new movie called Sherlock Holmes. In one of the fight scenes you can see him utilizing a man sau. Has any body saw any other movies with Downey utilizing WC?

[Phil Redmond]

His Sifu is my WC brother Eric Oram in L.A.
In Fact Sifu Oram went with Downey to England for the filming of the Sherlock Holmes movie. I have clips of Downey doing WC but I can't recall him doing it in a movie.

[anerlich]

The fictional Sherlock Holmes in the books was a skilled boxer, and having him do WC would be both anachronistic and varying from the original. Why the director might allow Downey to add some personal flair like this to a movie would be a mystery.

Still, worse and stupider things have been done to good stories by Hollywood.

[CFT]

Holmes' martial art in the books was Baritsu, which many think is Bartitsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu).

[Lee Chiang Po]

There have been several movie stars that have held high rankings in the martial arts. Peter Lory, of Mr. Moto fame. The little bug eyed fellow with the nasal twang to his speach. He held a 7th level black belt in Japanese Jujitsu.

[RGVWingChun]

Robert Downey Jr. Has a new movie called Sherlock Holmes. In one of the fight scenes you can see him utilizing a man sau. Has any body saw any other movies with Downey utilizing WC?

in Tropic Thunder, he gives the director a vertical punch to the chest....LOL

[TenTigers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqjBMhV4uSM&feature=PlayList&p=ABA4831F5CF1FAA2&index=35&playnext=3&playnext_from=PL

[Ultimatewingchun]

God, I hate this thread! :rolleyes:

Yes, Downey has studied TWC from Eric Oram, who I know since he's 16 years old...but when I saw the youtube clip of Downey on Oprah Winfrey talking about his wing chun (and there was even a clip of him throwing a punch at Eric...and Eric going to town on it)...

I wanted to hide. :eek: :D Total Hollywood blah, blah, blah.

And furthermore, I am a HUGE FAN of the Sherlock Holmes series that was originally made by a corporation known as "Granada TV"...a series that aired on British televison about 4x per year over a 10 year period (apx. 1984-1994)...

starring JEREMY BRETT as Sherlock Holmes. (And it made its' way onto American television as well).

Absolutely fantastic stuff. I have a copy of all 41 episodes and have watched each of them countless times over the years (and it used to drive my wife nuts)...

Each of the 41 episodes were probably the most true depictions ever made - in terms of being true to the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories and dialogue. Most were an hour long, and some were even two hours long.

The 2 hour rendition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, for example, was just magnificent.

And now Hollywood is going to ruin this with Robert Downey, Jr. as Holmes !!!??? :eek:

I'm so ashamed. ;) :cool:

[TenTigers]

hey, lots of folks didn't think Michael Keaton would play a good Batman, thinking that he's Mr. Mom, and the guy from Gung-Ho. These people obviously have never seen him in Pacific Heights. He can be very dark, and sinister.
I think Downey is a good actor, and could probably pull it off, depending on the writer and director and choreographer. Bourne Identity was pretty cool, for a non-MAist. Blows away Keanu in Matrix.(barf)

[Vajramusti]

Basil Rathbone was great as Holmes in an early early movie version.
No high movie- tech stuff-just good acting.

joy chaudhuri

[rindge]

Joy truer words were never spoken. Basil Rathbone was fantastic in the old SH black and white films. I grew up on those and they drew me to the SH writings of Doyle. I have seen the previews of SH with Downey and they blow. To much FX...SH is not about FX it about acting and plot.

Victor any idea where I can get the movies you mentioned? The Hounds of Baskerville with Rathbone was fantastic and it would be interesting to see how the newer version compares.

Rindge

[Vajramusti]

Rathbone actually was a pretty good fencer. He often played the villain in many swashbuckling movies- sometimes against Errol Flynn as the hero-including Robin Hood.

joy chaudhuri

[Phil Redmond]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqjBMhV4uSM&feature=PlayList&p=ABA4831F5CF1FAA2&index=35&playnext=3&playnext_from=PL
This movie was considered to be Hollywood's first MA fight scene. Some of you may not know this but many of James Cagney's fans were appalled that he kicked the guy during the fight. Some of you old timers might remember when kicking was considered dirty fighting.

[Ultimatewingchun]

Rindge,

Google "Granada Television"....and you'll see a listing for "Amazon.com/Sherlock Holmes, Granada Televison"....when you click that, you'll see how to buy them right there online.

[tigershorty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1czvD3aVk8Y

robert downey jr chain punches jack black in the balls at 2:36 into the clip. pretty funny.

[Ultimatewingchun]

just as I suspected. Arthur Conan Doyle would be turning over in his grave if he saw this trailor. This is NOT Sherlock Holmes. Jeremy Brett was incredible, even better than Basil Rathbone - who was very good himself.

But this stuff...Ouch!!! :eek:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfRKSBiCWfI&feature=related

[Liddel]

But this stuff...Ouch!!! :eek:


Just be happy its not a Michael 'all CGI no emotion' Bay production :p

DREW

[anerlich]

I too thought Basil Rathbone was great.

There was a recent miniseries which played here with Rupert Everett as Holmes ... I thought that wasn't bad, though it made a bit much of the drugtaking for my taste (though, hey, maybe RD Jr. could bring some verisimilitude there ... :().

Haven't seen the Jeremy Brett ones and am interested now.

[anerlich]

He looks like he's trying to be Johnny Depp in that trailer.

Sherlock Holmes is not about blockbuster action, but the use of observation, logic and reason to solve difficult crimes.

And the bedroom scene with the cuffs is so totally NOT Holmes. Part of the interest of the stories is his intriguing apparent lack of a sexual aspect to his personality, which some have later attributed to gayness.

[Ultimatewingchun]

If you're a big Sherlock Holmes fan, Andrew, and it sounds like you are...I highly recommend checking out the google info I posted about earlier.

The 41 stories that were made with Jeremy Brett as Holmes were remarkably close to the actual writings of Arthur Conan Doyle...(ie.- long paragraghs were taken and spoken word-for-word from the text quite, quite often, but all done extremely well).

I sometimes would read (or reread) a story by Doyle after watching an episode, because the acting and the period sets were so superb that I just wanted to get more of the story defined. That's when I realized just how true the script stayed to the original stories.

And Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes - wow, brilliant! He was a very powerful actor, and a protege of Sir Lawrence Olivier. (Brett died young - he was 60 - of a heart attack around 1995, which is why the series came to an end).

And I'll tell you something else, in addition to Brett they also used lots of very accomplished and established (as well as up-and-coming) British actors/actresses.

In fact, the beautiful actress, Natasha Richardson, who just recently died as a result of that tragic skiiing accident (Liam Neeson's wife)...she made her movie-acting debut with a leading role in one of the episodes (THE COPPER BEECHES). She couldn't have been more than 21-22 at the time.

Really great stuff.

[Mr Punch]

...but when I saw the youtube clip of Downey on Oprah Winfrey talking about his wing chun (and there was even a clip of him throwing a punch at Eric...and Eric going to town on it)...

I wanted to hide. :eek: :D Total Hollywood blah, blah, blah.**** me, what a surprise: a big Hollywood actor going on Oprah proving himself over rehab through the power of martial arts having his segment bigged up in a Hollywood stylee! :rolleyes: Even seeing that somewhat embarrassing segment doesn't diminish the fact that I think it's great he's given himself a second chance (OK probably 10th or so) through martial arts, wing chun or whatever, and it makes him a somewhat positive role model and is good publicity for some of the more spiritual, less hardcore fighting elements of the martial arts.

But ribbing you aside Victor (it's just good fun, all right?! :p ) I'm in total agreement about the Brett Holmes being good stuff, Rathbone being excellent too, the Downey one being bullsh!t and I liked the Everett one too (the druggie aspect is too often underplayed so that was kind of refreshing).

BTW, as mentioned, Holmes could box, so the chun in the movie looks daft. However, although it was doubtless unintended by the film-makers, prizefighting in those days may have still resembled chun more than modern boxing: there would have still been remnants of vertical punching and much much less upper body movement. Just saying!

[Ultimatewingchun]

Good point about the vertical punching from the old time boxing stance, Mr. Punch. In fact, in the story/episode "THE SOLITARY CYCLIST" - Jeremy Brett as Holmes beats this guy up during a fight in a rural country tavern using the old style boxing - including one piece of very fancy footwork.

I almost fell out of my chair when I first saw it, as the footwork looked so much like the full side step we do in TWC, but from the front stance, the way a boxer would be standing. Broken rhythm and everything.

Btw, folks...I forgot to mention earlier that another (at that time) up-and-coming British actor who played a small role in the episode, "SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE", was Jude Law. He also had to have been no older than his early twenties at the time, I would guess.

And now, in fact, in this travesty with Robert Downey,Jr. - Jude Law plays Doctor Watson.

[taai gihk yahn]

Rathbone actually was a pretty good fencer. He often played the villain in many swashbuckling movies- sometimes against Errol Flynn as the hero-including Robin Hood.

joy chaudhuri

yes, Rathbone was actually an excellent fencer; interesting trivia from his work in "Court Jester" w/Danny Kaye:
"Basil Rathbone, a world-class fencer called "the best in Hollywood", said that Danny Kaye, who had never fenced before, was as good as he was with only three weeks of practice; Kaye was a natural. "With his quick reflexes and his extraordinary sense of mime, which enabled him to imitate easily anything seen once, Kaye could outfence Rathbone after a few weeks of instruction". [1] In fact, in one scene, Kaye (42 at the time of filming) was so skilled, Rathbone (then 63) could not keep up, and was instead doubled by sword choreographer Ralph Faulkner (which is why the viewers don't see Rathbone's face in that scene).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Court_Jester

[Vajramusti]

Thanks for the info. I am not surprised. Danny Kaye was very agile and also picked up cues very well. Basil and Ratbone- that's quite a story.

joy chaudhuri

[goju]

isnt guy ritche idrecting it it should be a good movie i think

[enoajnin]

This just in from the Warner Brother panel at Comiccon where they were discussing Sherlock:

Asked about the pictures of Downey practicing Kung-Fu, Downey said, "Look, I'm not trying to start a riot or anything, but... I could windmill through the lot of you, one after the other."

[golgo]

I saw the trailer for Sherlock Holmes tonight. I think I saw a pretty clear Tan Sao (or Tan Da) in the short boxing clip.

[AdrianK]

This just in from the Warner Brother panel at Comiccon where they were discussing Sherlock:

Asked about the pictures of Downey practicing Kung-Fu, Downey said, "Look, I'm not trying to start a riot or anything, but... I could windmill through the lot of you, one after the other."

Well, he is about one of the fittest wing chun or kung fu guys I've ever seen.

But I have to say this after having the chance to touch hands with him many years ago, b*tch please. :D

[BS_billy_C]

Wonder why Downey didn't practice with some of the WC guys in England there are some very well respected men within the VTA based in England.

Not sure if his teacher is mind, being a student of Cheung's, perhaps he was disuaded from doing so by his teacher?

[GeneChing]

I like what Downey said in this interview. I read all the Sherlock Holmes books in my youth and had issues with the caricature he became in the popular media. Downey sounds like they are really going back to the source book, which would be awesome. Watson was played like the fool in many versions, but he certainly wasn't that way in the books.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009, 10:43 P.M. ET
Sherlock Holmes: Martial Artist (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388540350472998.html?m od=googlenews_wsj)
The star of the coming movie about the famed detective talks about giving the role a fresh spin
By LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER

He's played Iron Man and Charlie Chaplin, but Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. says his greatest challenge may be his next role: Sherlock Holmes.

The 44-year-old actor will star as the great sleuth in the Guy Ritchie film "Sherlock Holmes," opening on Christmas Day. Scottish-born author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories about Holmes, and over the years there have been countless stage and screen portrayals of the detective, who first appeared in print in 1887.

The coming film, which was first inspired by a comic book that producer Lionel Wigram wrote to help build support for a Holmes movie, promises to give the Holmes franchise a provocative twist—by adding a dose of martial arts, something that most portrayals of the hero have ignored. Mr. Downey, who did many of the fight scenes himself, says that the film hews very closely to Doyle's original descriptions of the British investigator, which focused on his superb martial arts skills as well as the close relationship that Holmes has with his friend and sometime roommate, Dr. John H. Watson (played by Jude Law).

Mr. Downey spoke about playing an "intellectual action hero" from London, where Mr. Ritchie is shooting several weeks' worth of additional scenes for the film.

The Wall Street Journal: Sherlock Holmes is a big leap from previous characters you’ve played. What got you interested in the role?

Mr. Downey: As I remember it, I went in for a meeting with [producer] Joel Silver and said, 'Dude, where's my franchise?' And this came up as the answer...And Holmes was like a cross between two previous parts I'd done, Tony Stark [alter ego of Iron Man] and Chaplin, which I loved.

“Iron Man” wasn’t a big enough franchise for you?

"Iron Man" was not enough. I wanted something else. And 'Sherlock Holmes' was such a no-brainer, even as a standalone project but particularly with Guy [Ritchie]'s reported interest and involvement.

How did you and Mr. Ritchie make the film—and the character—more accessible to a modern audience?

Well, I had a fair amount of leeway after "Iron Man".... So we were sitting in a meeting discussing what to do and we thought, "Why do a stodgy version of it?" Doyle never writes a three-page action sequence, but after the fact he will talk a lot about the physical contact that happened. Doyle talks about how Holmes is a stick fighter and a master of baritsu [Doyle's altered spelling of the real martial art bartitsu]. So Guy [Ritchie] made those traits a big part of the character."

While Sherlock Holmes isn’t a superhero like Tony Stark, it sounds like he still fights a great deal—at least in this movie. How does your character approach action differently?

Holmes always thinks his fights through and wins them in his head before he even physically gets into them. That embellishment is really central to the way action plays out in the movie.

It sounds like the film mainly focuses on the fight sequences and martial arts.

Yes, but not to the exclusion of the real center of the story, which is his relationship with Watson.

To prepare for the role, as well as that important relationship with Watson, did you watch previous portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, in movies, on television?

I watched some of the old movies, but to tell you the truth, the more you watch the old stuff, the more you realize how not traditional it is—it's not like the stories at all. Part of the tableau in which Holmes is always thought of is him, in profile, with a deerstalker hat and with a curved pipe in his mouth. Nothing about that has anything to do with Doyle's description—in one description, Doyle says he is wearing a hat, but it's more of a moleskin cap. The oversized pipe came from something that theater actor [and playwright] William Gillette used in his portrayal—and now it's always used on stage. When I see Holmes portrayed with those two props now, I always think, "Really? That's not what the writer meant.

So how did you prepare?

I really wanted to portray Holmes as Doyle wrote him. When I played Chaplin I flew all over the planet looking for clues, but the definitive Western expert on Holmes [Leslie S. Klinger] lives 20 minutes up the road in Malibu. So I went and hung out with him, I read through his book, a definitive annotated Sherlock Holmes, which was probably the modern data center for us.

Did you read a lot of Doyle’s stories?

I read them all.

Were you a Sherlock Holmes fan before you signed onto the movie, or did you pack in all that reading afterwards?

I honestly knew nothing about the character—just that he's a detective and that he's a weirdo. But there are all kinds of misconceptions about him. Many have said that he's a huge drug fiend, but it's clear reading the stories—he's not. It's just that none of those behaviors were considered strange or illegal at that time, so he partakes in drugs, but he doesn't abuse anything. He just overindulges in them when he's bored and when he's not bored he puts them down.

Why do you think Sherlock Holmes is such an enduring character?

Look at "Hill Street Blues" or "CSI"—there have been so many legacies that respond to Holmes's character. He can be a little ****sure and full of himself, but Holmes is also like that freaky roommate everybody has once in their life, that guy who is a math genius but could never pay his part of the rent. And at the same time, he has this dedication to doing the right thing to the exclusion of doing all other things. He sacrifices everything so he can become better at what he does. As a character actor, I found that trait endlessly compelling.

Write to Lauren A. E. Schuker at lauren.schuker@wsj.com

[GeneChing]

We caught a screener last night. I won't go into details right now, but I will say I felt Ritchie delivered. It's a bit watered down for a more general audience, but still very enjoyable. I should say that I was a huge fan of the books but I read them over a quarter century ago, so I'm fuzzy on the details. But while there were some liberties with the character, it's loyal in other details.

As for the fight scenes, there are two nice hand-to-hand scenes early in the film. I'm not going to spoil them but they were very well executed. It's not about showcasing Downey's fighting skills at all (they are choppy quick edit scenes that anyone could have performed with the right cinematographer and editor) but they way they are depicted is really fun. Also, in one scene, you can see a wooden dummy (http://www.martialartsmart.com/20-50.html) in the corner of 221b Baker Street, although it doesn't have any arms, just punching pads (http://www.martialartsmart.com/20-52.html).

I should also say that I'm not a fan of Downey at all. In fact, I almost dislike him. Nevertheless, his characterization of Holmes was entertaining. Now Downey is set for franchises - he can alternate between Iron Man (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49445) and Sherlock for the rest of his career.

SH is like Casino Royale (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44016) or Batman Begins (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37012) - a reboot of an icon, retooled for 2009 sensibilities.

[doug maverick]

We caught a screener last night. I won't go into details right now, but I will say I felt Ritchie delivered. It's a bit watered down for a more general audience, but still very enjoyable. I should say that I was a huge fan of the books but I read them over a quarter century ago, so I'm fuzzy on the details. But while there were some liberties with the character, it's loyal in other details.

As for the fight scenes, there are two nice hand-to-hand scenes early in the film. I'm not going to spoil them but they were very well executed. It's not about showcasing Downey's fighting skills at all (they are choppy quick edit scenes that anyone could have performed with the right cinematographer and editor) but they way they are depicted is really fun. Also, in one scene, you can see a wooden dummy (http://www.martialartsmart.com/20-50.html) in the corner of 221b Baker Street, although it doesn't have any arms, just punching pads (http://www.martialartsmart.com/20-52.html).

I should also say that I'm not a fan of Downey at all. In fact, I almost dislike him. Nevertheless, his characterization of Holmes was entertaining. Now Downey is set for franchises - he can alternate between Iron Man (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49445) and Sherlock for the rest of his career.

SH is like Casino Royale (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44016) or Batman Begins (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37012) - a reboot of an icon, retooled for 2009 sensibilities.

cant wait to see this film...cant believe you dont like downey..but i could see that. i really liked him in his recent work. tropic thunder, iron man, charlie bartlett and a few others.

[GeneChing]

Check out our latest ezine article: SHERLOCK Ho-Ho-HOLMES: A Great Christmas Gift? (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=865) by Dr. Craig Reid.

Doug, believe it or not, I haven't seen Iron Man, Charlie Bartlett or Tropic Thunder yet. I am reappraising my opinion of him after Sherlock, and Iron Man is high on my DVD list.

[Lucas]

Check out our latest ezine article: SHERLOCK Ho-Ho-HOLMES: A Great Christmas Gift? (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=865) by Dr. Craig Reid.

Doug, believe it or not, I haven't seen Iron Man, Charlie Bartlett or Tropic Thunder yet. I am reappraising my opinion of him after Sherlock, and Iron Man is high on my DVD list.

dude....you should be beaten for not seeing iron man before holmes!

lol jk/ but really man iron man is great. its one of those movies where you dont even really notice the CGI. just a great film in all aspects.

[@PLUGO]

cant wait to see this film...cant believe you dont like downey..but i could see that. i really liked him in his recent work. tropic thunder, iron man, charlie bartlett and a few others.

copy that on Robbie Boy (as I imagine someone has called him)... he was also great in BLACK & WHITE... which I would recommend to anyone who wants to see Jr.'s improvised interaction with Mike Tyson. He actually survived.

As for Sherlock? just good old fun perfectly suited for Guy Richie's style. Was surprised how wholesome it all was, but I suppose that's to be expected of an X-mas day release.

[GeneChing]

...it's a martial arts thing. ;)

Truth be told, I haven't really seen Downey in that much, especially not lately. I guess I liked him in Short Cuts, A Scanner Darkly and Weird Science. :o I'm not sure why I don't like him. It's like how some people just don't like Keanu.

[Lucas]

...it's a martial arts thing. ;)

Truth be told, I haven't really seen Downey in that much, especially not lately. I guess I liked him in Short Cuts, A Scanner Darkly and Weird Science. :o I'm not sure why I don't like him. It's like how some people just don't like Keanu.

perfectly understandable. im the same way with Leotardo DeCrapio

[GeneChing]

* DECEMBER 24, 2009
He's Not Your Father's Sherlock Holmes (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614370555284990.html?m od=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle)
By JOE MORGENSTERN

"You and I," the villain of "Sherlock Holmes" tells the detective, "are bound on a journey that will twist the very fabric of nature." His understatement is of a piece with the rest of Guy Ritchie's film, which twists, stretches, knots, tangles, distorts, bleaches, smudges and sometimes tears the very fabric of Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian canvas. The Holmes of this action adventure, played by Robert Downey Jr., is a master of the martial arts and perfectly capable of brutal behavior when it's required of him by the brutishness of a black-and-brown London that recalls "The Elephant Man." The movie as a whole is clever, and conspicuously overwrought. But Mr. Downey's performance is elegantly wrought; he's as quick-witted as his legendary character, and blithely funny in the lovers' spats—all right, the mystery-lovers' spats—that Holmes keeps having with Jude Law's witty Dr. Watson.

The director made his name with contemporary comedies about whimsical, casually violent thugs, so it's no surprise that he pays more attention to the underworld of Holmes's time than to the milieu of the haughty hero. He and his writers—four of them get credit for the script—have closed the gap between hunter and prey. This Holmes has been dehaughtified, to say the least. He's unkempt, even scruffy, and a pack rat who looks a little cracked. Still, his intelligence is intact. It's on display most vividly in a restaurant scene, when Holmes makes a series of ruthlessly accurate deductions about Watson's lovely fiancée—she's played by Kelly Reilly—and in several quick-cut sequences that deconstruct the detective's mental processes.

The villain, Blackwood, is played by Mark Strong, the excellent actor who played a Jordanian security chief in "Body of Lies." While he's impressive here, the fruits of his evil genius are less so. The four writers in question have concocted a plot that promises to be diabolical (a satanic rite, for openers, with a begowned beauty about to be tortured), but grows silly in inverse proportion to its grandiosity (a doomsday machine designed to do in the House of Lords), then finally performs a peculiar act of self-deflation by revealing that Blackwood's seeming magic was only a succession of conjuring tricks. And it's hard to follow, let alone care about, the comings of goings of Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a criminal who has bested Sherlock Holmes in the past, but is worsted by the script's convolutions.

Doyle had ambivalent feelings about his Sherlock Holmes stories and books; they were spectacularly successful, but not the kind of art he aspired to. Ambivalence is appropriate here too, not because Mr. Ritchie has violated a venerable literary icon by turning him into an action hero—kids will probably buy into the notion, and what's the harm?—but because the movie's kung fu conniptions are far more mundane than the settings in which they play out. The truly distinctive physicality comes less from the familiar fight sequences than from Sarah Greenwood's set design and Philippe Rousselot's cinematography, complemented by computer-generated visions of a Victorian London simultaneously moldering and exploding with new construction. And even though Mr. Downey has emerged from "Iron Man" as a full-fledged action hero, it's great fun to watch him do the detective work he always does, finding laughs and bright surprises in every scene.

This article below is funnier after you see the film.

Robert Downey Jr hints Sherlock Holmes was gay (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/6874415/Robert-Downey-Jr-hints-Sherlock-Holmes-was-gay.html)
Actor Robert Downey Jr is said to have unnerved studio bosses by hinting that the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in his new film are meant to be gay.
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 5:08PM GMT 23 Dec 2009

Downey Jr stars as the title character in Sherlock Holmes, which is released over Christmas, alongside Jude Law as Dr Watson.

Appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman he was asked whether the two characters had a "different level of relationship" beyond solving crimes, and replied: "You mean that they were ****s? That is what you're saying?"

The actor also suggested that Dr Watson's fiancée could be a cover for the relationship between the two male characters, and introduced a clip of Holmes wrestling by inviting the audience to decide if he was a "butch ****sexual".

However, his jokes are said to have caused unease among studio executives who have been marketing the film as an action-packed adventure.

"Robert can't stop talking about the world's most famous 'bromance' and it's making studio publicists very nervous," one Hollywood insider said. They added that executives did not want the film to become "Brokeback Mountain 2", referring to the Oscar-winning movie about two gay cowboys.

Downey Jr has dropped a series of other hints about the subtext of the Guy Ritchie-directed film, previously describing the lead characters as "two men who happen to be room-mates, wrestle a lot and share a bed".

He added: "I had an idea of how he should be represented and from what I understand it's not quite how he's been previously represented."

However, according to Sherlock Holmes Journal editor Roger Johnson, in Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories the Victorian detective is "essentially asexual with no erotic interest in women or men." He says Watson was "something of a ladies' man but a faithful husband to his wife".

[GeneChing]

So has anyone here actually done any bartitsu?

Dec-27-2009 22:48
Sherlock Holmes' Martial Art Comes To Pacific Northwest (http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december272009/holmes.php)
Salem-News.com

The name “Bartitsu” might well have been completely forgotten if not for a chance mention by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in one of his Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. In the Adventure of the Empty House (1903), Courtesy: baritsu.org

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Having recently been given terrific behind the scenes looks at the new Sherlock Holmes film staring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson we have been shown that the film has chosen to bring a greater emphasis to Mr. Holmes' martial arts abilities.

The movie, in fact, seems to be bringing a greater emphasis to action than past portrayals of the great detective. This decision has come under fire by Sherlock Holmes purists, however the decision has basis in the novels themselves.

The film's fight choreographer Richard Ryan worked closely with the actors to recreate the martial arts system for film. “The physicality, the bare-knuckle fighting, the martial arts are all hinted at in the books,” says Law who delved deep into Doyle’s books in preparation for his role. Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a man accomplished in Pugilism, grappling and Cane Fighting, all things combined in a historical martial art known as Bartitsu.

Bartitsu might have been forgotten along with it's creator, if it hadn't been mentioned as the martial art of that great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. In fact, the great detective was noted to be quite an excellent 'single-stick fighter'.

“Doyle called it baritsu in the novels, which is tied to a 19th-century hybrid of jujitsu that is actually called Bartitsu, created by Edward William Barton-Wright,” Downey explains. In the novels, Sherlock Holmes used his knowledge of Bartitsu to fight against his adversary, the nefarious Professor Moriarity at Reichenbach Falls.

The real martial art of Bartitsu was the brainchild of Edward Barton-Wright, an English engineer who, while in Japan, was taken with a demonstration of JuiJitsu. Barton-Wright returned to England and set about making himself a public expert on matters of self-defense for the urban upper classes.

Barton-Wright's earliest public demonstrations and publications displayed simple jujitsu skills, but soon he expanded his system. Adding pugilism, savate (French kickboxing), canne de combat, and a smattering of Western wrestling styles to the Eastern arts, Barton-Wright unveiled bartitsu to the world in 1898.

Bartitsu was one of the earliest attempts at mixing eastern and western martial arts. The system was billed as the gentleman’s art of self defense and prominently featured the use of the cane or umbrella as a weapon. Barton-Wright recognized that fights have various ranges. The cane, which no gentleman ever went into the streets without, extends one's reach and lets a fellow defeat an opponent without dirtying his hands.

At closer range the hands and feet come into play utilizing Savate and Pugilism. Closer still Jujitsu and wrestling are employed. Clubs sprang up around Europe and the system was studied by men and women alike. In fact the system was practiced as part of the training of the English women’s suffrage movement as a means of protecting themselves.

Tony Wolf is a New Zealand martial artist and fight choreographer most recently known for his work on ’Lord of The Rings’. Mr. Wolf has recently become a figure in the revival of the study of the art, publishing several books on the subject.

He explains, "The perception at the time was that members of the educated classes were at increasing risk from street gangsters…Barton-Wright also stressed that skill at Bartitsu would be useful when traveling overseas, to countries where one 'could not expect fair play.'”

Tony Wolf will be making a tour of the Pacific North West in March of 2010 to teach a series of Bartitsu seminars. He will be teaching in Seattle hosted by author and martial artist Neal Stephenson the weekend of March 6th and 7th. He will then be teaching at the Northwest Academy of Arms run by Maestro Sean Hayes in Eugene Oregon the weekend of March 13th and 14th.

Finally Mr. Wolf will be teaching at a seminar hosted by the Portland areas historic fencing school Academia Duellatoria run by instructors Jeff Richardson and Matthew Howden on the weekend of March 20th and 21st.

For more information about Bartitsu check out the Bartitsu Society at bartitsu.org/ For more information on the upcoming seminars check out the websites of the hosting schools at duellatoria.com/ and northwestacademyofarms.com/

[Xiao3 Meng4]

No, but these guys seem to be having fun...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGiTAtJI_uU

[KC Elbows]

I liked it. I also like the British series, and the Basil Rathbone ones, as well as a smattering of others.

In fairness, the Basil Rathbone ones are good, but have their own Hollywood effect: I may be showing how long it's been since I read them(childhood), but I thought that those movies were the source of the "incompetent Watson for comic effect", and the only mention of Holme's cocaine use was cut out of the last one they made. They are a good example of what Hollywood does to books.

The British series is probably overall the best. There was also a Hound of the Baskervilles with Peter Cushing as Holmes that I enjoy.

The movie had several homages: the scene where he's testing the sounds from his violin on the behavior in flies, and the scene where he's shooting the walls of his room come to mind.

And old boxing is closer to Wing Chun than modern boxing, so I had no real problem with it's use, especially since no normal viewer was gonna cry about the difference.;)::p:D

Anyway, I liked it. There have been worse versions made, and the Nigel Bruce Watson, even though I like him, is probably the closest thing to a travesty done to the original characters.

[Shaolinlueb]

my sister saw it. she said it was good. i want to see it because i am a guy Ritchie fan.

[Baritsumaster]

It's great to see the Holmes movie and the Bartitsu Society's work acknowledged on this, one of my favorite sites.
Thanks, fellas!

-Will Thomas
the Bartitsu Forum
www.willthomasauthor.com
Ten Tigers Kung Fu

[doug maverick]

just watched this movie it was freaking awesome...only thing i hated in all the reviews was the constant reference of "**** erotic undertones" when i watched they just seemed like co-dependant brothers..which goes into the argument ive been saying for years, people see what they want to see, if your looking for gay undertones you'll find it . the action scenes were great, i looked up that baritsu online and found some interesting stuff, but the action in the movie was more wing chun mixed with a bit of jujitsu (guy Richie is an exponent of bjj, and RDJ wing chun) but i like how they blended it with old style boxing. good stuff.. i cant wait to see the sequals. i remember there was a rumor that they shot addition footage with brad pitt as pro. moriarty that rumors was untrue...but it would be freaking cool to have him as the dastardly professor in a sequel.

[Dragonzbane76]

saw it sat. and it was good. I like 'period' pieces though. The settings were well done for that time frame in Britain. Has dark overtones and gritty feeling which i enjoyed.

As for the fights, i'll have to agree with the above poster that most of it was WC. The fight at the beginning of the movie was a lot of WC and boxing mixture. I enjoyed watching the redirect slaps he employed when fighting the big guy. :)
Richie does some nice thought out fighting with holmes. (holmes see's the fight happening before it happens.)

overall go see it, it's worth your time i think.

[GeneChing]

Holmes Vision is what made the choreography work for me. It was very Dark Knight (the comic, not the film).

Robert Downey Jr. thinks there's no role like Holmes (http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/pearlman/1958726,sherlock-holmes-robert-downey-jude-law-122609.article)
December 26, 2009
BY CINDY PEARLMAN Sun-Times Columnist

LONDON — This is not a case of no shtick, Sherlock.

Robert Downey Jr., the latest actor to deduce the role of Sherlock Holmes, is riffing next to his Watson. “It’s true that Jude Law and I have magnificent chemistry together. Our next stop after this movie is romantic comedies.”

Downey relaxes in a giant stone room at Freemason Hall in London on a trademark rainy gray day. In a black suit with his dark hair spiked everywhere, Downey mentions that he had to fight a bit to play the most frequently portrayed character in film history. According to Guinness World Records, at least 75 actors have been Sherlock.

“At one point, there was some talk that I was too old to play the role,” says the 44-year-old. “Then I faxed everyone the grosses for ‘Iron Man’ and suddenly I wasn’t too old anymore. It’s amazing how things work in Hollywood!”

It was more than elementary that he could run around jolly old Victorian London as a martial-arts Sherlock Holmes who must fight the sinister Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a man who claims he has special powers that he will use to bring down Parliament. At Sherlock’s side is his trusty friend Watson (Law), reminding everyone, “I am a doctor.”

He’s also a great partner, which is at the heart of this film. “Jude and I know how to yin and yang,” says Downey. “It just felt natural. We are like an eccentric married couple now.”

Downey says he read Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed detective novels as a boy and was always intrigued. “I loved that Sherlock was not only a character of a specific period, but he was flawed in a way that anyone could identify with during any time,” Downey says. “He’s rather selfish and arrogant. He even suffers from depression.

“He’s an intriguing man.”

His take on the film was quite specific and avoided the Sherlock cliches. “My take is what the puritans would expect, if the puritans know what I’m talking about,” he says.

“Several of the most surprising things right off the bat are that oft- associated props have never appeared in the novels or the short stories,” says this Sherlock scholar.

“He never wore a cap except maybe once for a minute, but even then it was described differently,” Downey says. “Even the long pipe wasn’t in the books.” (Sherlock also never said, “It’s elementary, my dear Watson” in the books, but that device is used on screen).

His Sherlock is also a bare-fisted brawler who uses martial arts moves to stun his enemies. “I’ve been studying martial arts for the past six years and love bare- knuckle boxing,” Downey says. “This was just a choreographed version of what I know how to do.

“Guy [Ritchie, the director] made it clear we were going to do something called Holmes Vision. You see Holmes’ vision of a punch before he delivers it and then you see the real thing. For the slow-motion fighting scenes, Guy used to tell me to try a take where I was punching through peanut butter,” Downey says. “That was the strangest direction I’ve ever got on a film set.

“This was Guy’s take on the film and Sherlock and it was me trusting him and getting his approval,” Downey says. “That said, I’m crazy about the fighting and I love it.”

What’s not in the movie is any drug use, which has been a staple of prior Sherlocks where the characters dabbled in a bit of cocaine. (It was typical in their day). Downey, who has suffered his own well-publicized drug issues and now is clean, says, “If you go back to the old Sherlocks, he was never a strung-out weirdo. In those days, you could go down to the corner pharmacy and grab what you wanted.

“We did amend that part of it,” he says. “This is a PG-13 film.”

As for shooting in London, “Well, I was here 20 years ago in London filming and what I do remember is the food sucked,” Downey says, recalling his Oscar-nominated role as Charlie Chaplin. “Then I did ‘Air America’ here too, which incidentally I call ‘Air Generica.’

“There’s something about shooting in England that’s an enriched experience because of the people and the culture,” he says. “As Americans, we can have a bit of an abrupt attitude, which is so different from England.”

“It’s not so much saying, ‘F---, this is what we’re going through.’ Instead, it’s, ‘Let’s have a spot of tea and talk it out.’ ”

He says returning to America with his wife (and “Sherlock” producer Susan Downey) was a bit of culture shock. “When I came back from England, I landed in New Jersey,” Downey says. “I had been speaking the proper Queen’s English and then came back to Jersey and heard what was the most grating thing I’ve ever hear in my life. ... That was me talking in my real voice.”

In the end, Downey isn’t worried about career moves. His “Iron Man 2” debuts next May and he’s on quite the roll. “I don’t get scared anymore,” he says. “I just get busy. It’s not about fear of the judgment of others. It’s just about me meeting my own standards.”

[doug maverick]

i agree with you gene...i actually like the camaraderie of this film, richie has balls, he let holmes and watsons brotherhood, show. **** the "****-erotic undertones"(im sorry but that ****es me off, thats why Hollywood rights in female leads who sometimes have no place in the film other then to prove the characters are not gay). they actually reminded me of the relationship i have with one of my friend, but to a lesser extent. alot of jibes and jabs reminded me of it, especially the part where he put the violin bow in his face, and he said get that bow(i dont think he said bow) out of my face, and that whole bit, we actually went through something similar (it was a car antenna, dont ask) like three days ago.lol

[Phil Redmond]

just watched this movie it was freaking awesome...only thing i hated in all the reviews was the constant reference of "**** erotic undertones" when i watched they just seemed like co-dependant brothers..which goes into the argument ive been saying for years, people see what they want to see, if your looking for gay undertones you'll find it . the action scenes were great, i looked up that baritsu online and found some interesting stuff, but the action in the movie was more wing chun mixed with a bit of jujitsu (guy Richie is an exponent of bjj, and RDJ wing chun) but i like how they blended it with old style boxing. good stuff.. i cant wait to see the sequals. i remember there was a rumor that they shot addition footage with brad pitt as pro. moriarty that rumors was untrue...but it would be freaking cool to have him as the dastardly professor in a sequel.
My WC brother Eric Oram is Downey Jr's WC Sifu. Eric went to the UK with Robert to choreograph the fight scenes. Eric is in at least one fight scene. Look at the Oprah Segment clip here http://www.wingchunkwoon.com/clips.asp

[@PLUGO]

Robert Downey Jr. has dropped out of the Dreamworks/Universal comic adaptation Cowboys & Aliens. It would have reunited the him with Iron Man director Jon Favreau. Apparently (http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/01/12/robert-downey-jr-sherlock-holmes-2/)there's a scheduling conflict with the Sherlock Holmes sequel. SH2 has not yet been greenlit by Warner Bros., but it is being fast-tracked based on the success of the first film.

Warner Bros. has apparently already commissioned a script. It remains to be seen (http://screenrant.com/sherlock-holmes-2-shooting-summer-2010-ross-41126/) whether Ritchie will follow RDJ and direct the sequel.

Personally, I can't see them succeeding with out Richie directing.

[doug maverick]

yeah looks like they will start shooting in june.

[doug maverick]

and now its a golden globe winner, robert downey just won for holmes...which i didnt even know was nominated.