Walp, the latest big name actor to be cast as Sherlock Holmes has the bullseye on his forehead for the naysayers, and once again it's time to wave the Doyle's Rotary Coffin flag and sing a few verses of our movement's anthem, "No Holmes Barred!"
You didn't know that was an anthem one could sing? Give me a minute.
In any case, it's Henry Cavill, the latest cinema Superman, following in the footsteps of Roger Moore, James D'Arcy, Ben Syder, Rupert Everett, and others (Will Ferrell!) who were just too good-looking in the eyes of many to play Sherlock Holmes. (Oh, fuss all you want about how handsome Jeremy Brett was or the beauty of Benedict, but they were those sort of fellows that won you over to their visage -- had they been in the office cube next to you doing accounting, you wouldn't have gave them a second thought, I'd wager.) But now that I've blasphemed in the parentheses, let's move on.
Are we surprised that a former Superman is going to play Sherlock in the upcoming Enola Holmes movie?
Well, we've had an Iron Man Sherlock and a Dr. Strange Sherlock, so our next one pretty much had to be a superhero. So why not have him be the superhero and just get it over with! And while Sherlockians of the sixties easily considered the headcanon of Holmes as a Vulcan, why couldn't he just have been from Krypton? DC Comics has famously done an "Elseworlds" tale where baby Kale-El's rocket landed in Russia and Superman was raised Soviet, so why couldn't that rocketship have landed in Victorian Sussex, England and seen the Superbaby raised by country squires? (And why hasn't anyone written that fic yet, if they haven't?) It would explain a whole lot of fireplace poker bending and wanting to fly across London with Watson!
Henry Cavill's upcoming part as Sherlock Holmes is just one more adventure in alternate Sherlocks for the members of Doyle's Rotary Coffin to enjoy. Hollywood hasn't nearly gotten a Sherlock Holmes unlikely enough to fully test our mettle yet, and I say, "Bring it on, Hollywood! We can take it! We're the Sherlockians of 2019! We cut our teeth on Robert Downey Jr.!"
Doyle's Rotary Coffin spins again. And I do love that beautiful, speed-born hum.
The ongoing investigation of Sherlock Holmes, reported from the Peoria, Illinois outpost of Baker Street's dirtiest half a dozen.
My god, the naysayers are at it again, and he hasn't even played the role yet! This sounds more like it will be similar to Johnathan Pryce's appearances in
ReplyDelete"Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars" (2007), where the Irregulars were the stars. I don't recall all this gripping about Pryce. An actor of this renown taking a secondary role as Sherlock Holmes, while Enola Holmes is the star, I find quite refreshing, and it will certainly sell tickets. Bravo I say.