Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes 3 Is Casting Its Villain
It looks like Robert Downey Jr. will be heading back into the Sherlock Holmes role with the next movie's villain finally getting cast
Robert Downey Jr. spent more than a decade playing Tony Stark/ Iron Man, one of the more iconic roles we’ve ever seen in the movies. So it’s easy to forget that he was/is part of another franchise as well. This one is set to get a third movie in the run and according to insider Daniel Richtman, they are currently trying to cast the movie’s lead villain. This time around it looks like they want to maybe take down a regulated capitalist.
Richtman says that the new casting for Sherlock Holmes 3 will involve a “captain of industry type” for the film and that they are going to set this next one in America. It will be a change of pace for Robert Downey Jr. and company considering the first two movies in the run took place in Britain as do almost all stories involving this character. Considering these films (and books on which they are based) take place at the end of the 19th century, we could be seeing an automobile or newspaper kind of villain with the big bad being someone of considerably corrupt nature.
It’s been more than a decade since Robert Downey Jr. was in the Sherlock Holmes role, having spent most of that time playing Iron Man in one movie or another. But this other franchise is starting to ramp up production heading for its third movie in the timeline. It’s seen a number of different starts and stops along the way. The last film, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows came out all the way back in 2011 and was another box office win. But since then there hasn’t been much in the way of solid news when it comes to a third film in the series. Scripts were started and scrapped. Release dates were published then rescinded.
Currently, Sherlock Holmes 3 is in pre-production and it looks like the right steps, like casting the major villain are underway with the implication being the script is finally finished. We know Robert Downey Jr. is back in the titular role, and Jude Law will return as Watson. Apparently, Jared Harris and Eddie Marsan are both back as Professor Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade respectively. But other than that the casting is light and if the setting is moved then we likely see all new faces.
And though Robert Downey Jr. had Guy Ritchie in the director’s chair for the first two movies, that’s going to change as well. Dexter Fletcher will helm this next film in the series after directing the Elton John biopic Rocketman as well as 2015’s Eddie the Eagle. So we could be getting a new look for the character and the style as well going forward.
It’s easy to forget because Iron Man and The Avengers movies overshadowed this for Robert Downey Jr., but the Sherlock Holmes movies have turned a pretty penny for the actor as well. The first two, on a combined $210 million in budget earned over $1 billion at the box office. These films were massive hits a decade or so ago and could make a big comeback all these years later. Knowing we are getting casting around the big bad means we are only getting closer to the film actually happening now.
