Comic-Con: Robert Downey Jr and Cast Talk Sherlock Holmes

Warner Brothers had set the bar fairly high with its previous panels of Where the Wild Thing Are, The Book of Eli, The Box, Jonah Hex and A Nightmare on Elm Street; all of which had very impressive footage along with great star power. However, as we all knew, Sherlock Holmes was the flagship for the WB panel this Friday morning at Comic-Con.

As the cast of Jonah Hex exited, Robert Downey Jr. took the stage to a standing ovation. Clearly RDJ has become one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, thanks to Jon Favreau and the role of Tony Stark in Iron Man. Downey briefly talked about the character of Sherlock Holmes stating that “122 years ago Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the first superhero ever, an intellectual superhero.” RDJ continued on: “There have been a myriad of TV shows and films made about Sherlock Holmes, but why haven’t they brought it back to mainstream today? The answer is casting!” he jokingly said as he winked and nodded to an absolutely captivated crowd.

Following Downey’s introduction, we were shown a clip running about four minutes long that was almost an extended trailer from what we have already seen. Explosions, actions, jokes, and some great fight scenes highlighted what appeared to be a huge blockbuster for this Holiday season. The scenes we saw had a real fun feel, but I will say that with so much action and adventure being shown, I am almost worried that they will forget about the detective aspect of Sherlock Holmes. Of course that is yet to be seen, but it is still a concern for me and many other Holmes fans. All in all, the clip was good, and it should prove to draw quite a crowd Christmas Day.

When asked about the martial arts preparation for Holmes, RDJ laughingly said “I could windmill the whole lot of you, right out the goddamn door.” Rachel McAdams looked as stunning as ever, as she joined him for the Q&A. They all seemed very excited to be a part of this project, and from start to finish the actors continually gushed about being a part of a Guy Ritchie project.

RDJ’s confidence in his own acting ability is something that oozed out here in Hall H, as he added, “This is how sick I am, I don’t think anything is too challenging for me. I have an illness of confidence.” I hope that his confidence is something that can carry this film into greatness. I am sure it will be a lot of fun, but I really wasn’t wowed. It will inevitably make a lot of money, sure, but will it reach the heights of other big films this winter? Only time will tell.