One of the big hits of 2009 was Guy Ritchie’s take on Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros., a daring action-comedy take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 19th Century detective starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law that took in $470 million in worldwide box office, enough for Warner Bros. to greenlight a sequel.
At the New York press junket for his new movie Repo Men, ComingSoon.net asked Jude Law about the proposed Sherlock Holmes 2 and if he knew of any more recent developments.
“We had such a blast making that film, and it was another very happy experience,” his response began. “I know you probably always sit in front of actors and they say, ‘We had the best time,’ and we (referring to Forest Whitaker sitting next to him) had the best time, but we also had a good time on that, too, I promise. I haven’t always had the best time but I did on these two. We got on very well, and we were also very aware that we had a hell of a lot more material to use. Conan Doyle wrote over 15 books, and there was so much to take from. Because of our enthusiasm for the project, once we knew it was doing well financially, we all started throwing in our ideas of where it could go and what should happen next. Mine of course involved Sherlock Holmes being locked in a box and Dr. Watson…” (He holds his arms up victoriously at getting the spotlight being put on his character.)
“I think we are probably going to make another one,” he finally said, “I haven’t been given the absolute… it’s not like next week but I think it’s sometime this year is what I get.”
Law’s name was also mentioned recently as part of the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s virus outbreak thriller Contagion along with Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard, so he told us a bit about his involvement in that: “‘Contagion’ is not until the end of the year and I’m one of a large number of people in a big ensemble, so I’m doing like 10 days on that, in San Francisco, I think. Well, the subject matter is really interesting, it’s very current. It’s about a contagious disease spreading across the world and how it affects different elements. Be it the public, the medical services, the emergency services, politicians. I play someone online, a blogger, who is kind of a fearmonger. And I just like the part, I really like the part, and I just love Steven Soderbergh films. I think he’s a great talent.”
Law’s new movie Repo Men opens on March 19, and you can look for our exclusive interviews with its director Miguel Sapochnik and his co-star Forest Whitaker sometime before then.
