Sherlock Holmes: Martial Artist.

[arnisador]

Sherlock Holmes: Martial Artist (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388540350472998.html)

The star of the coming movie about the famed detective talks about giving the role a fresh spin (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574388540350472998.html)



How did you and Mr. Ritchie make the film—and the character—more accessible to a modern audience?

Well, I had a fair amount of leeway after "Iron Man".... So we were sitting in a meeting discussing what to do and we thought, "Why do a stodgy version of it?" Doyle never writes a three-page action sequence, but after the fact he will talk a lot about the physical contact that happened. Doyle talks about how Holmes is a stick fighter and a master of baritsu [Doyle's altered spelling of the real martial art bartitsu]. So Guy [Ritchie] made those traits a big part of the character."


While Sherlock Holmes isn’t a superhero like Tony Stark, it sounds like he still fights a great deal—at least in this movie. How does your character approach action differently?

Holmes always thinks his fights through and wins them in his head before he even physically gets into them. That embellishment is really central to the way action plays out in the movie.


It sounds like the film mainly focuses on the fight sequences and martial arts.

Yes, but not to the exclusion of the real center of the story, which is his relationship with Watson.

[Brian R. VanCise]

I think this movie might be a lot of fun!

[jwinch2]

I am almost finished up with the complete works of Sherlock Holmes as we speak. There are one or two times that Doyle has some extended action sequencing but they are right that it is certainly not often. A Study in Scarlet as well as Hound of the Baskervilles has longer such sequences but the rest of the stories seem to be about 10 - 15 pages or less in total. Watson, through Doyle does make repeated statements about Holmes' athleticism in such sports as Boxing and Fencing. In addition, Holmes himself makes a statement about skill in Bartitsu. However, the boxing comes up far more often than anything else which would suggest far less skill in Bartistu than mastery.

As a side note, there is a fantastic new Holmes novel called something along the lines of Dust and Shadow which is written very much in the style of Doyle and details the chase for Jack the Ripper. There are longer action sequences in that particular novel but very few and far between.

If the movie is done well it could be fantastic. Unfortunately they probably screwed it up.

[arnisador]

I've read all the Sherlock Holmes stories and want to see the movie! I didn't know about the Jack the Ripper book--sounds interesting.

[jwinch2]

I didn't know about the Jack the Ripper book--sounds interesting.
I highly recommend it.