When you think of Sherlock Holmes, you think of Basil Rathbone interrogating the cultured aristocracy of Victorian England in a drawing room somewhere.
When you think of Guy Ritchie, you think of the rough and gritty crimeland of lower class, modern day England as portrayed in Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and the upcoming RocknRolla. And, yes, to be honest, that awful Swept Away remake he made with his wife Madonna.
But the character and director who appear to be on the opposite sides of the social spectrum will soon meet. Variety is reporting that Ritchie has signed on to direct a new Sherlock Holmes movie based on an upcoming comic book by Lionel Wigram.
The movie is tentatively scheduled for a 2010 release.
I’ll be surprised if this makes it to the big screens. For yours we’ve been promised various Sherlock projects, only to fall by the wayside.
It is bound to happen sooner or later though.
The last Sherlock Holmes film was the 1988 spoof WITHOUT A CLUE. Before that was 1985’s YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES and before that was 1979’s MURDER BY DECREE, the most recent “proper” Holmes film.
I think the question is whether audiences are interested in seeing a new Holmes film, no matter what the iteration.