Sir Ian McKellen next up to play Sherlock Holmes
Ever since 2010 when Benedict Cumberbatch entered the world of Sherlock Holmes, if anyone would have dared mention to me that there was to be even a hint of another small screen adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation, I would have immediately written it off as a wasted effort. I am softening a bit with Jonny Lee Miller’s portrayal in CBS’ Elementary series, but not much.
One such name, however, that has surfaced as entering the world of Sherlock has me getting ready to change my admittedly closed-minded Sherlock outlook. None other than Sir Ian McKellen is set to become the latest in a long line of celebrated British actors to portray the world’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.
According to reports, The Hobbit star will play a retired Holmes, haunted by an unsolved case, in a new British film, “A Slight Trick of the Mind”, from BBC Films and AI, the production arm of Icon Films in the UK.
Directed by Bill Condon, who recently directed Benedict Cumberbatch in the WikiLeaks movie, “The Fifth Estate”, the movie is adapted from Mitch Cullin’s novel of the same name, which sees a retired and aged Holmes spending his remaining years in a remote Sussex farmhouse, keeping bees and grappling with his waning mental powers, until a 50-year-old unsolved case returns to haunt him.
