Guy Ritchie / Sherlock Holmes

Lots of coverage this week on the news that Guy Ritchie is to helm a comic book inspired Sherlock Holmes feature film. I'll reserve judgement until 2010 rolls around and I actually see the film but I can't help but worry that it may end up being another "Van Helsing" or "From Hell" - an expensive mediocrity.

Here are links to just a few of this week's press dispatches on the news..

Empire : "Guy Ritchie's mined the criminal underbelly for some time now, with all his tales of less-than-diamond geezers wheelin' and dealin' around the East End. But he's looking now to the, er, sleuthing overbelly with the news that he is to direct a new Sherlock Holmes for Warners...."

The Guardian: "Jason Statham is Sherlock Holmes. Dexter Fletcher is Dr Watson. And Madonna is Irene Adler. Well, not quite, but Guy Ritchie has signed up to helm a film based on the famous tenant of 221b Baker Street and, if previous experience is anything to go by, a cast of mockney sorts should swiftly follow..."

TimesOnline: "The Hollywood studio Warner Bros is backing his attempt to repackage Holmes from his tweedy, cerebral image into a sword-wielding fist-fighter with a short fuse.

In Los Angeles last week, an executive at Warner said it was looking for a “grungy” Holmes. “This is Sherlock Holmes as a street-fighting man, ready to take on man, monsters, whatever the world can throw at him...”

Entertainment Weekly : "No doubt you're as thrilled as I am by the news that Guy Ritchie will be directing a Sherlock Holmes movie, one that, according to the Hollywood Reporter, will make Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Victorian sleuth "more adventuresome and less stuffy than previous screen incarnations." I'm sure that the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director will move quickly to cast Jason Statham (pictured, left, in Lock, Stock...) as Holmes and Vinnie Jones as Watson in the flick, which I am certain will be called No S---, Sherlock. Here's how I imagine the screenplay will begin..."

The Independant : "Rather than focusing on Holmes as the pipe-smoking intellectual, the film will apparently portray him as a man of action, highlighting his "skills as a boxer and swordsman". Sounds like the role that Ritchie favourite Vinnie Jones was born to play..."

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