On a cold and grey January morning, IGN boarded a coach bound for deepest, darkest Hertfordshire in the English countryside. Our destination? Waddesdon Manor, a stately home built in the 19th century as a 'Pleasure Palace' but now being used as a location for the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
A sequel to the 2009 smash-hit Sherlock Holmes, the film reunites stars Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law with director Guy Ritchie, and continues the adventure of the dynamic duo, only this time around everything seems bigger and better, from sets to locations to action to that all-important villain.
All the talk on-set revolved around the introduction of Moriarty, Holmes' nemesis, literature's first super-villain, and a character that appeared only in the shadows first time around.
In this sequel however, Moriarty is front-and-centre, leading Holmes and Watson on a merry dance as he plots and schemes his way around Europe.
A much-coveted role - with Brad Pitt long thought to be the frontrunner - the part eventually went to Jared Harris, son of screen legend Richard Harris and a rather brilliant character actor whom you'll recognise from the likes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and a recurring role on TV's Mad Men.
Both cast and crew were overjoyed to have Harris join their ranks, promising that the actor will retain the character's sense of mystery while at the same time leaving you in no doubt as to Moriarty's dastardly intentions.
Also joining the cast is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Noomi Rapace, playing a gypsy who meets Holmes and Watson and soon joins them on their adventure (for an undisclosed but seemingly personal reason). Hard-as-nails, her character is a street-fighter who gives as good as she gets, and looks to be an interesting addition to the film's central dynamic.
We witnessed three scenes being shot over the course of the day and while we can't go into detail here, they involved a large action sequence revolving around a multitude of extras sent into a panic by a gun-shot, and a couple of short shots in which Holmes disguises himself as an old man to spy on Moriarty.
We also grabbed a word with everyone from Downey Jr, Law, Harris and Rapace to director Ritchie and producers Lionel Wigram and Susan Downey. We'll publish those texts when the embargo lifts nearer the film's release, but for now here are some tantalising details that we gleaned from cast and crew...
- The film won't be shot or converted into 3D.
- It will be a standalone movie, meaning that you won't need to have seen Sherlock Holmes to understand proceedings.
- The film will be influenced by 'The Final Problem' as well as several other Conan-Doyle stories, but won't be a direct adaptation, with the plot entirely original.
- Game of Shadows commences several months after the events of the first film.
- Watson is just days away from marrying Mary, causing tension between Holmes and he.
- Moriarty's plot has been set in motion some time before the film begins.
- The hunt for Moriarty will take the team on something of a European tour, taking them from London to Paris to industrial Germany and then finally - and most intriguing of all for Holmes' fans - onto the Swiss Alps.
That's all we're allowed to tell you for now, but rest assured the game is most definitely afoot, and we'll publish those interviews in full as we near the film's global release on December 16.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (MC: 48, RT: 60%)
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Forgot it was just called Sherlock.
Originally Posted by warc
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