Sacha Baron Cohen To Play Sherlock Holmes
Sacha Baron Cohen, creator of Ali G and Borat, will play Sherlock Holmes according to Variety. Friend and fellow funny man Will Ferrell will play his crime-solving partner Dr Watson. The movie will be a comedy (obviously) and has nothing to do with the Sherlock Holmes movie Guy Ritchie is working on. Producer Matt Tolmach says:
“Sacha and Will are two of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet, and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.”
The pair worked together on Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby which did rather well. However Ferrell’s most recent movie, Semi-Pro, didn’t do that great at the box office which could suggest people are tired of Will Ferrell playing Will Ferrell just with a different setting. Hopefully this Sherlock Holmes movie will require him to act a little, rather just play his loud and obnoxious self.
Cohen, Ferrell Feel Right at Holmes With Apatow
Here’s an elementary bit of casting.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell are set to star as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the latest addition to the Judd Apatow canon, a comedy inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of the brilliant snuff-sniffing sleuth and his reliable partner in crime-solving.
Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen is penning the script for Columbia Pictures. Apatow and manager Jimmy Miller will produce.
“Just the idea of Sacha and Will as Sherlock Holmes and Watson makes us laugh,” studio copresident Matt Tolmach told Variety. “Sacha and Will are two of the funniest and most talented guys on the planet, and having them take on these two iconic characters is frankly hilarious.”
The funnymen last acted togetherand memorably made out inTalladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which earned them an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss.
Ferrell, who has very few sports left to skewer on the big screen, will return to theaters July 25 in the Apatow-produced Step Brothers, while Cohen is currently shooting Bruno, featuring the flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter character he cooked up for British television. Presuming no one goes on strike, Bruno is slated for a May 15, 2009 release.