Sherlock Holmes has a distinction among fictional characters – he has been in more films and TV programs than any other, including Britney Spears. Now he’s about to get another IMDB entry as director Neil Marshall (the guy who made the hated-by-Nick The Descent) is taking a crack at him for Warner Bros.
But this isn’t going to be your father’s Sherlock Holmes. Or your grandfather’s. Or your great… well, you get the point. Holmes has been around a long time, and he doesn’t appeal to the kids today, so Marshall’s film, which is based on an upcoming comic book. This Holmes isn’t going to be a boring old Victorian fuddy duddy – he is a bareknuckles boxer and swordsman, who will often use those skills while investigating cases. He will also be an avid base jumper, and instead of playing the violin he will play crunching speed metal riffs on a guitar. The new Holmes will still be sniffing coke, although in this film he’ll say it ‘gives me wings!’ as part of a Red Bull cross-promotional campaign.
Okay, most of that stuff is untrue, but Marshall’s film will be about a more adventure-oriented Holmes. Whatever embellishments have been made, the Arthur Conan Doyle estate gave the OK – there are some sticky rights issues in the UK that Warner Bros worked out before announcing this.
Marshall’s next feature is Doomsday, on which he’s currently in post-production. He may be interested in doing more literary characters update for the modern day, such as a film about Holden Caufield where the irrepressible teen discovers terrorists have evil plans for Central Park’s ducks, a movie where Nick and Gatsby discover that the green light is actually an alien invasion beacon and his magnum opus where Addie Bundren is re-animated and feasts on the people of Yoknapatawpha County.