‘Sherlock Holmes 3’ Is Still Afoot, Says Robert Downey Jr.
Guy Ritchie’sSherlock Holmeswas one of 2009’s more pleasant surprises, a slick, silly, and surprisingly faithful cinematic re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary “consulting detective.” It’s 2011 sequel,Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, wasn’t nearly as good, replacing much of the original’s charming bombast withvery loudbombast. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the rapport betweenRobert Downey Jr.’s insufferable genius investigator andJude Law’s put-upon Dr. Watson. I’d be lying again if I said I wouldn’t plunk down the cost of a movie ticket to watch those two bicker and banter one more time.
And while we haven’t heard any solid news aboutSherlock Holmes 3for a few years, Downey Jr. himself says the film is still in development, even hinting that it may shoot later this year.
Downey Jr. has been making the press rounds forCaptain America: Civil War, which means he’s had the opportunity to talk about the dozen or so other projects on his plate.ShortListspoke to him about the status of the thirdSherlock Holmesmovie and he confirmed that it is still alive:
“We’re talking about it right now. We can do some preliminary stuff.”
He elaborated, explaining that the busy schedules of everyone involved make getting together for another movie a tricky, exhausting proposition:
“If we could shoot it on Skype, we could have the whole [movie] done in a week. When we’re making those Sherlock movies it is off the hook. [So] we’ll attempt to make one this year. It really is a big deal to go and do those movies. I’m tired all the time, but I’m so excited about it.”
Of course, the interesting phrase there is “we’ll attempt to make one this year,” which sounds wildly optimistic. After all, production this year would require Ritchie to finish up hisKing Arthurmovie (which is due out June 15, 2025) in record time whilescreenwriters Drew Pearce and Lionel Wigramhammer out a screenplay worth shooting while Downey Jr. and Law both carve out enough time to film the project.
I have a hard time believing thatSherlock Holmes 3won’tget made eventually since the first two films grossed north of $500 million worldwide, but I’ll remain nice and skeptical about a 2016 start date for now. Maybe 2017, ifAvengers: Infinity Wardoesn’t occupy every waking moment of Downey Jr.’s existence. And even that would require Ritchie to not be pre-occupied with thoseKing Arthursequels that areapparently already in the works.
So there you go.Sherlock Holmes 3– everyone wants to make it! But who knows when?
