About the Film
“Sherlock Holmes” unfolds against the backdrop of London in 1890, when the
city seems at the center of the world, with technology extending mankind’s reach and all
things new racing to replace the old. “There’s a growing engagement in technologies of
the near future, and this sense of wonderment,” Robert Downey Jr. observes. “They’re
verging on all these incredible things.”
But for all the polish and prestige, 1890s London is also a cesspool into which all
the criminals of contemporary society drain…which makes it the ideal city for a man like
Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes has made his reputation finding the truth at the heart of the most
complex mysteries. With the aid of Dr. John Watson, his trusted ally, the renowned
“consulting detective” is unequaled in his pursuit of criminals of every stripe, whether
relying on his singular powers of observation, his remarkable deductive skills, or the
blunt force of his fists.
But now a storm is gathering over London, a threat unlike anything that Holmes
has ever confronted…and just the challenge he’s looking for.
After a string of brutal, ritualistic murders, Holmes and Watson arrive just in time
to save the latest victim and uncover the killer: the unrepentant Lord Blackwood. As he
approaches his scheduled hanging, Blackwood—who has terrorized inmates and jailers
alike with his seeming connection to dark and powerful forces—warns Holmes that death
has no power over him and, in fact, his execution plays right into Blackwood’s plans.
And when, by all indications, Blackwood makes good on his promise, his
apparent resurrection panics London and confounds Scotland Yard. But to Holmes, the
game is afoot.
A Bit from Behind the Scenes
In creating a tangible feel of Sherlock Holmes’s London, Guy Ritchie wanted to
portray a city at the crossroads between the past and a newly dawning future—an
expansive and gritty place with bold new architecture being layered over the old.
“As the
center of the Industrial Revolution, London really was throbbing with enthusiasm and
creative energy,” Ritchie observes. “Tower Bridge was being built, one of the many very
ambitious things the Victorians were undertaking at the time.”
“The film is set when the British Empire is at its height,” adds Robert Downey Jr.
“There was a sense of being on the cusp of the modern age, with a real interest in
technological developments.”
The directive on all levels of design was to be at once authentic and grounded in
the reality of the times while also creating a fresh look for Holmes’s world. “That was
the key to this film,” says costume designer Jenny Beavan. “My instruction was to avoid
the infamous deerstalker hat that has become emblematic of the old Holmes,” she
continues, noting that the deerstalker hat did not come from Conan Doyle’s words but
from an early illustration of one of the stories. “Our Holmes has a rumpled, scruffy look.
You get the sense that he throws his clothes on the floor when he’s done with them and
picks anything out of the pile when he gets dressed. For example, he wears a dinner
jacket for the meal with Watson and his fiancée Mary but gets the shirt and cravat just
slightly wrong. There’s a bit of a vintage store feel to his clothes.”
What's Being Said About the Film
"If you can get over the idea of Sherlock Holmes as an action hero -- and if, indeed, you want to -- then there is something to enjoy about this flagrant makeover of fiction's first modern detective into a man of brawn as much as brain. "--Variety
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