Sherlock Holmes II -
better, stronger, funnier!

Sandra Varner’s Celebrity Profiles

Robert Downey, Jr is Sherlock Holmes

He has costarred with Jamie Foxx (Due Date), Terrence Howard (Iron Man I) and Don Cheadle (Iron Man II), now, Robert Downey, Jr. brings his A-game to the sequel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," the action-packed romp that gets better the second time around.

Downey returns as the ever beguiling London detective and inventor --with an arsenal of new surprises and clever witted phrases-- set within a visually stunning film directed by Guy Ritchie with musical score from Hans Zimmer.

Co-stars Jude Law (as Dr. Watson) and Rachel McAdams (as Irene Adler) are back along with new characters Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) as Sherlock's arch nemesis. The plot thickens with the addition of Sim (Swedish actor Noomi Rapace), the mysterious Gypsy who gives the bad guy a real go for it.

During a press conference to discuss Sherlock Holmes II, Downey and company had this to say.

The sequel is stronger than the original—

Robert Downey, Jr: Well, after the first one worked out pretty good we later talked about things that we would like to improve, other directions we could go –blah, blah, blah-- and then there is the reality of doing it. Anybody who has ever been involved in making the second part to a first that worked, there should be a whole online support team for this. And we have been through it. We continued to speak about it, over lunch and so forth because there is so much to learn [about the characters]. Again, I think the greatest disguise was us disguising ourselves as consummate --by the number of professionals-- when in fact; we are all kind of incredibly eccentric. Warner Bros gave us the opportunity to try to do something that is complicated. And, the great thing, we had the time to do it.

L to R, Jude Law as "Watson" and Downey as "Holmes"

The dialogue between Holmes and Watson seems sharper --

Downey: I think the goal is to make a well written scene seem like it's improvised and to come up with things that you find in the room that you couldn't know until you get into the real situation and try to improve things as you go along.

Jared Harris as "Moriarty"

The intensity between Holmes and Moriarty heightens the plot –

Downey: The stakes were so high in every scene; then there were the complicated camera shots and stuff like that. It was pretty terrifying. It was shock and awe. Honestly, I think what he (Jared) brought to it (the film) was something that is so particularly him and the essence of his character. It is the main reason that the movie works but it was also an exercise in trial by fire, like the German aria that Jared had to learn overnight.

Do you feel a sense of ownership toward your character? –

Downey: I'm intrigued by it and I think it's important that we're all a part of the same collective of honoring this great writer and his stories.

The film's director, Guy Ritchie said he was excited to work with the cast again –

Film Director Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie: Because we enjoyed it so much the first time, I waited with some anticipation for the box office results for very different reasons than everyone else. It was a sort of cathartic experience the first time around and an enjoyable one that we just wanted to do it again.

As for the challenges of the film he commented –

Ritchie: I think we made a movie that takes place in three or four countries (in Europe), so you could say that that was the biggest logistical challenge. Thanks to the magic of visual effects and our wonderful team, it made life much easier to do that, but it was really figuring it all out that was complicated.

He continued –

Ritchie: Equally, the film was fun to make; they are also very hard work. But I don't want the hard work to take away from the fun factor. They are tremendous fun to make and they are pretty spontaneous and I think that's what keeps it exciting. In terms of the levity, the humor, the spontaneity; a lot of that is organic. We'd take something from the page and try to trump it up, sometimes it worked, sometimes not. But just the game of trumping keeps everyone stimulated.

Noomi Rapace, new to the sequel, commented on working with Guy Ritchie and the rest of the cast--

Noomi Rapace as "Sim" The Gypsy in Sherlock Holmes II

Noomi Rapace: Well, I came in, [on things before] I got a lot of preparation. Then, I prepped and I changed my body. I did research and all things you can imagine but, on this one, I met Robert and Susan (Downey) like maybe six weeks or so before we started to shoot. It was a good quick meeting in L.A. We didn't talk about Sherlock Holmes rather we talked about movies and dreams. I remember Robert asking me, 'how do you want to work?' It was really super intense. I walked out of that meeting and told my manger, I was like, 'wow, those two are amazing, I'd love to work with them.' Then Warner Bros wanted to send me over to London to meet Guy Ritchie. I was there for an hour and we talked. It was also very intense. I came out of that meeting and was like, 'I would love to work with these people.' But I didn't expect anything. Then, I think it was two weeks later, they wanted me to do this role. We started shooting three weeks later. So I kind of jumped into it; it was super intense and so much fun. I was really nervous before and it was my first English speaking movie--I didn't speak English three years ago. So I didn't really know how to deal with it and how it would be for me but, the way Guy works, he's very open, they all were, and it was very playful, easy and creative. It felt like we kind of created this character (Sim) together. I was surprised by the way they just opened their family to me and I became one of their boys, pretty much. I don't remember a single situation when I came out it and Guy would say, "OK, this is what I want you to do exactly." He always asked me, how do you want to do this, how do you see this and what do you think and that's pretty much the way I love to work… in a very searching, creative, open way. It was fantastic.

Robert and Susan Downey at Sherlock Holmes II premiere

Susan Downey (Producer) and Michele Mulroney (Screenwriter) commented on the strong female presence in this male focused film—

M. Mulroney: We started out with this idea that there was going to be another female character in this movie, in addition to Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) from the first movie. All of us agreed to make the character strong and determined; make her emotional and fully fleshed out. The "gypsy" part was fun to play with and out of that came some really cool things that Noomi did. There was absolutely the idea that Holmes is awakened by the partnership and the challenge of strong women around him.

S. Downey: Fortunately, everybody was on board with the idea and I think if you are going to put a female with all these guys: Jude, Robert, Guy and Jared, you don't want her to just disappear, she has to be strong or she's going to be so overpowered and uninteresting. You need someone who can rise to the occasion and you try to build it in the characterization; you try and build it on the page but then it's about casting the right person who can show up and who can stand their ground with these guys. Noomi just did such a fantastic job. We had it with Rachel in the first movie and a little bit of her in this one; then, with Noomi coming in looking for a challenge, you have to do that out of necessity.