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MTV News visited the 'Game of Shadows' set on its final day of production.
By Eric Ditzian, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Robert Downey Jr. on the set of "Sherlock Holmes"
Photo: MTV News
MTV News' arrival on the U.K. set of "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" marked a melancholy occasion. Not because things weren't going well on the sequel to 2009's $520 million-grossing hit, or because stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law weren't happy to see us.
But our January visit coincided with Law's final day in production, and he and Downey felt like they were just getting warmed up.
"We were talking so much about the possibilities of more, and loads of ideas and situations, on the first one," said Law, who returns to the fold as sidekick Watson to Downey's ass-kicking Holmes. "We've got even more ideas now, and I hope we're going to be allowed to do another one again."
"We're clinging on to this thing," Downey laughed. "It's going to have claw marks in it when we let go."
Warner Bros. hardly wants the duo to relinquish the new franchise anytime soon. While the characters are based on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic 19th-century literary creations — ones that hardly had the contemporary appeal of a caped superhero — the success of the '09 flick was anything but assured. Yet under the steady guidance of director Guy Ritchie and keying off the bromantic chemistry of its two male leads, "Sherlock Holmes" grossed $62 million over its opening weekend — even as it went head-to-head with "Avatar."
Now they're back, and they've asked Noomi Rapace, the star of the Swedish-language "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy, to join up as a gypsy. Or as Ritchie put it to us, "A gypsy princess with balls — that's what Noomi brings to the table."
The sequel focuses on a web of conspiracies overseen by nefarious Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris). After Rapace's gypsy meets up with Holmes and Watson in London, the story pushes out of the city and takes on a far greater scope than the first one. But ultimately, like that '09 film, whether or not the sequel works will rest greatly on the sizzling back-and-forth between Downey and Law. From what we saw on the U.K. set, no one should be worried.
"It feels a bit like a relay team," Law said their dynamic. "He leads, then he hands the baton off to me, but it's done subconsciously."
"I also think there are two kinds of performers," added Downey. "I've heard of, and I guess I've experienced the kind that are like, 'You want to play ping-pong? Because I'll kick your ass!' Everything is about, 'I'll do it better than you.' Whereas, we become this third thing, this brotherhood."
Check out everything we've got on "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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'We find ourselves in certain situations that you have to adapt to,' Depp tells MTV News of his cartoon chameleon.
By Kara Warner
Rango, voiced by Johnny Depp, in "Rango"
Photo: Paramount
Johnny Depp is one of those actors who disappear so fully into the characters he plays onscreen that with each new film, it's hard to know what to expect from the Oscar nominee. Depp's latest, the animated pic "Rango," is no exception.
In the film — directed by Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski and featuring the vocal talents of Abigail Breslin, Isla Fischer and Bill Nighy — Depp plays the title character, a chameleon living a lonely life in a cage as a family pet. But Rango is also an aspiring actor so he stages elaborate plays within the confines of his little glass home. He suddenly finds his life turned upside down when his cage is accidentally thrown out of his owners' car during a cross-country move, landing him in the strange town of Dirt in the Nevada desert.
MTV News caught up with Depp and we asked him if, given his chameleon-like abilities as an actor, he felt a sense of kinship with the little green reptile, and whether Rango is perhaps the closest he's come to playing himself.
"What I saw early on with the character, and something that Gore and I talked about, is that it is in sort of all of us, in a way," Depp explained. "There is a chameleonic side to all of us in which we find ourselves in certain situations that you have to adapt to, sitting across from personalities that you have to adapt to in order to survive the moment or survive the day," he said. "That's kind of how I saw Rango."
Who's your favorite Johnny Depp character? Tell us in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "Rango."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
