Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have appeared in several movies together over the past decade, but their biggest collaboration still remains Step Brothers, where they played middle-aged man-children who were forced to live together. It doesn't look like a sequel to the 2008 comedy is coming anytime soon, but fear not, as the two actors will soon reunite to play the most famous crime-solving duo in all of literature. No, not Batman and Robin. Ferrell and Reilly will be the latest two actors to portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.
It was reported earlier today by Deadline that Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have signed on for the Sony comedy Holmes & Watson. Ferrell will play the observant detective, while Reilly will play his ever-present sidekick who writes about the cases. Directed by Get Hard's Etan Cohen, the movie will be (as most of you already guessed) a PG-13 comedy twist on the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ferrell was originally supposed to co-star alongside Sacha Baron Cohen, but since didn't work out, Sony has spent the last few weeks putting the pieces back together, and the result is Ferrell and Reilly reuniting for their next big buddy comedy.
Even though no specific plot details were revealed in the report, anyone familiar with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly's comedy work can probably figure out where Holmes & Watson intends to go. Using the Sherlock Holmes lore as the basic framework, these versions of the protagonists will get into ridiculous shenanigans, some downright slapstick, in the midst of solving a case in Victorian-era England (unless, of course, they decided to Americanize it for the present day). Since few Sherlock Holmes adaptations have veered into full comedy territory, this promises to at least be an unusual take on the material. Ferrell and Reilly proved they have an amazing dynamic together in Step Brothers and 2006's Talladega Nights, so ideally them playing Sherlock Holmes and John Watson should prove to be amusing.
Holmes & Watson is far from the only piece of Sherlock Holmes-related media that's come out in recent years. On the big screen, Robert Downey Jr. played the detective (with Jude Law as Watson) in 2009's Sherlock Holmes and 2011's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, with a third movie currently in the works. In the world of TV, the BBC series Sherlock, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson, respectively, is currently shooting its four season. Over on CBS, Elementary, which stars Johnny Lee Miller as Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, will begin airing its fifth season on October 2.
Holmes & Watson is scheduled to kick off production right after Thanksgiving later this year. We'll keep you apprised of any new developments surrounding the movie, including a release date, as more information comes in.
