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Robert Downey Jr. Vs. Sacha Baron Cohen: A Tale Of Two Holmes
Posted by Seth at 3:20 AM on July 11, 2008
With today's Variety report that Robert Downey Jr. will star in a mildly distracted Guy Ritchie's upcoming Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros.—by all accounts, a much more reverential take on the mythical detective than the Columbia comedy announced just last week starring Sacha Baron Cohen—we thought we'd celebrate this latest Elementary! edition of our ongoing The End of Ideas series by comparing and contrasting the two competing projects:
The Take:
RDJ: A fast-talking, self-absorbed Holmes with hints of deep inner-turmoil, Downey's creation will overcome a career-threatening intravenous morphine habit to become the toast of London's A-list private detective scene.
SBC: A snootier and less aware take on the erudite detective, this Holmes will always insist, despite the bafflement of his perennial sidekick Watson, that the best way to solve a particularly difficult case is to visit the local all-boys brothel for some closed-door interrogations.
The Case
RDJ: An Apparition on the Moors
SBC: The Problem of the One-Legged Beefeater
The Detective Style
RDJ: Drawing upon the obsessiveness of his reporter character in Zodiac, virtually no detail will be overlooked as Downey's detective combs the London streets and estate countryside in search of Lord Downey of Chatsworth's coldblooded killer.
SBC: The brilliant Holmes will disarm unwitting suspects by shoving a microphone in their face and a hammering them with a barrage of questions so disarmingly moronic—"So, did you kill the liveryman? Oh, I see. Well, what about...now?!"—he eventually stumbles upon an accidental confession.
The Watson
RDJ: Hoping to recapture some of their Iron Man magic, look for Terrence Howard to be approached to play filmdom's first black Watson, his soulful, mossy-green eyes welling with prideful tears after every successfully solved case.
SBC: Will Ferrell has already been announced, and with that the promise of an exciting light beer tie-in, in which the improvisational comedian looks into the camera and announces: "It's elementary. I'm horny."
The Catchphrase
RDJ: "The game is afoot!"
SBC: "Does this cloak make me look fat?"
[Photo Credit:The Satchel Pages]
- Downey Jr. set for 'Sherlock Holmes' [Variety]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
lawyergay
Posted 4:21 AM 11/7/08
As long as RDJ sports that delicious manpurse throughout, I'm in!
lawyergay
WGARefugee
Posted 4:14 AM 11/7/08
First they have to remake
Red Dawn and Robo Cop; now two competing versions of Sherlock Holmes. What's next, Windows 98, the movie?
WGARefugee
Cultmember
Posted 3:59 AM 11/7/08
Robert Downey JR...7 percent solution all the way, Holmes as a uber coke fiend. Wait, knowing it's RDJ, it would be titled "The 70 percent Solution"
Cultmember
RocketRockit
Posted 3:56 AM 11/7/08
I was thinking about this just this morning as I was getting prettified. As I've previously stated, I'm so not on the Apatow train. I really think this seals it. Honestly, I PRAY that "Stepbrothers" is the bomb of the century and they have to start calling crap like this off because of it.
RocketRockit
Old No.7
Posted 3:41 AM 11/7/08
Long-starved Sherlock Holmes fans will now be richly rewarded, just as Asteroid Doomsday Theologians were back a few years ago.
Old No.7
Hubert Cumberdale
Posted 3:40 AM 11/7/08
/avoid like rape
Hubert Cumberdale
CourageousCoward
Posted 3:24 AM 11/7/08
Oh sure. Like Downey can pull off a British accent.
CourageousCoward
NoGrumpys
Posted 4:48 AM 11/7/08
...this is tougher than the competing Dusty Springfield projects
NoGrumpys
GeorgeClooneysGirlfriend
Posted 4:44 AM 11/7/08
In the Last scene of the movie, he tells the people of London, "I AM SHERLOCK HOLMES!"
GeorgeClooneysGirlfriend
braak
Posted 4:44 AM 11/7/08
Robert Downey Jr. seems like a good choice. Holmes was on cocaine and morphine from page one.
Watson once remarked that his forearms looked like they'd been mauled by a cat.
braak
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 4:40 AM 11/7/08
I, for one, am waiting for the Wayans Bros. takeoff "I Know What You Did To The Hound of the Baskervilles".
Little Mintz Sunshine
NoWireHangers
Posted 4:32 AM 11/7/08
@Old No.7: And fans of Truman Capote, and turn of the century illusionists, or television viewers who are into nannies disciplining children, or wives that are swapped or traded.
The tag on this post could probably be the tag for all posts pertaining to TV or Film.
NoWireHangers
Lycosidae
Posted 4:25 AM 11/7/08
Jeremy Brett is turning over in his grave. (I'd like to join him.)
Lycosidae
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 4:54 AM 11/7/08
@NoGrumpys: ...and the long-competing Janis Joplin projects...
Little Mintz Sunshine
TempleDrake
Posted 5:31 AM 11/7/08
i wish that said "a tale of two homos"
TempleDrake
GeorgeClooneysGirlfriend
Posted 5:27 AM 11/7/08
Heard Etan hasn't written anything yet, no treatment. So as of now, its really only one movie. More like just hitting on Warners' girlfriend at a part in front of Warners, than really getting to second base.
GeorgeClooneysGirlfriend
Lala11_7
Posted 5:23 AM 11/7/08
I'm sorry...
When did FRIGGIN' SHERLOCK HOLMES become such a fascinating character in America that we have to devote not ONE...but TWO fucking movies to this bullshit endeavor???
I mean, I'd rather see another movie about a Pimp with a heart of gold then this shit...
Lala11_7
jasonelias
Posted 5:52 AM 11/7/08
@Lala11_7: Sherlock Holmes has clearly had a resurgence. It's like when the '50s came back briefly in the mid '70s. Too bad Holmes isn't around to see all of this. We lost him at that Who concert in 1979.
jasonelias
Losin_it
Posted 7:20 AM 11/7/08
@jasonelias: That's better.
Losin_it
jasonelias
Posted 7:19 AM 11/7/08
@Losin_it: Katherine Heigl hates Sherlock Holmes...
jasonelias
Losin_it
Posted 7:12 AM 11/7/08
Since none of this has anything to do with Katherine Heigl, I simply don't care.
Losin_it