The producers of the BBC’s Sherlock aren’t exactly happy that CBS has decided to produce its own modern take on Sherlock Holmes, Elementary, but they’re even less pleased about the decision to cast Jonny Lee Miller as the great detective.
Jonny Lee Miller has been tapped to star as Sherlock Holmes in CBS’s Elementary, a modern-day take on the famous detective, set in New York City instead of London.
Miller recently starred alongside the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch, in Danny Boyle’s play Frankenstein. The two alternated roles as Frankenstein and the monster, and both won Best Actor prizes at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for their performances.
BBC producer Sue Vertue had harsh words for CBS in The Independent. She called Miller “a fine actor” but said, “Let’s hope their pilot script has stayed further away from our Sherlock than their casting choice.”
The BBC team intends to watch Elementary closely for possible infringement.
CBS, for its part, points out that the characters of Holmes and Watson are now in the public domain, and promises to be “respectful of all copyright laws.”
The Elementary pilot is scheduled to shoot soon, with a series premier in September if it’s picked up.
The following content has been hidden - Reason : Personal note, not part of article
I think this is going to be terrible. I dread what the Americans are going to do with Sherlock Holmes.
What really annoys me if that I was going to write an article saying this kind of thing as an April fools joke. Now all of a sudden it turns out this is really happening!
Now I have to come up with something new....or maybe call it off and wait until next year as i've just told you all I was planning an April fools joke.
Last edited by Feel_Good_inc. : 17-02-2012 at 08:08 PM.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
My immediate reaction to this was "so?" As they say, the BBC do not own the rights to Sherlock Holmes and a modern reimagining of him is not the BBC's original idea. I don't really think an American Holmes would really work, but it's not the end of the world. They aren't remaking Sherlock, they are doing their own thing.
I didn't think a Guy Ritchie take on Sherlock Holmes would have been that good, but the film (not seen the second one) wasn't actually too bad.
well since my april fools joke is ruined I might as well give you all the details I was going to use to annoy you all with.
I was going to say it was HBO, not CBS, that was going to make the program. A channel better known for Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives than intellectual mysteries like Sherlock Holmes.
Watson was going to be female. Captain Joan Watson of the US Army medical corp, retired, after being shot in Iraq. This would leave room for a will they, won't they relationship between Watson and Sherlock.
I hadn't decided on who the female lead would be. I would have chosen someone who wasn't good for the role though.
I had decided to cast Paulo Costanzo to have the lead of Sherlock.
He was best known for playing Joey's nephew in the short lived Friends spin off Joey. and for bad B-movies like 40 days and 40 nights and Road Trip. So comedies and not serious work.
Instead of having a history with drugs as Holmes does in the books, Sherlock in this us version was going to be a recovering alcoholic.
He would still live at Baker Street. The apartment building above the Baker Street Irish Theme Pub in New York.
Apartment 2B
I deliberately chose to make sherlock an alcoholic when I discovered the baker street bar. Having him above the bar would have been a cause for concern for Watson. As i would have hinted in the article.
Holmes would have also been a former FBI agent who was fired, because of the drinking and now serves as a private investigator. Occasionally helping out the NYPD, much to the annoyance of Detective Lestrade.
I would have also hinted that Holmes has a dark past and I was toying with the idea of mentioning he became an alcoholic after either his wife, or sister, was killed.
Sherlock would have been cold, but we would have found that underneath the analytical brain he had some hurt feelings hidden away. The American version i was making up would have done more to humanise him, make him a character people could sympathise with and relate to.
All in all I would have chosen the worst cast, the worst director, worst writers and strongly hinted that the US version of Sherlock would have been as awful as the Americans could have made it.
I was going to put most of my serious thought into it over March and have the fake article ready in time for April 1st.
Better luck next year i guess. I've got over 12 months to think of something new, so i'll try and make it a good one.
Last edited by Feel_Good_inc. : 17-02-2012 at 08:30 PM.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
so it would have sufficiently annoyed you if the fake article had been written?
Good :)
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
Oh yes, I'm very much a traditionalist on the Sherlock front. It took me about 3 days to summon up the courage to watch the TV series. I went in thinking 'it can't be as good as the books, it can't be as good as the books!'. I am glad to say that I was so wrong.
i knew from the first ten minutes of the first episode it was a fantastic adaptation.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
if it makes any difference, jonny lee miller is a british actor
he started his career in The Bill and Eastenders. Starred in Trainspotting.
Got his big hollywood break in Hackers in the 90's.
Done some small movies like Dracula 2000 and was even in tv series Dexter.
so the question is will he be doing an American accent, or will they let him be british?
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
I was going to say it was HBO, not CBS, that was going to make the program. A channel better known for Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives than intellectual mysteries like Sherlock Holmes.
I stopped reading after that. HBO show some of the best TV programmes ever made, for example Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiam, and Rome.
To be fair to CBS, they have quite a history of the decent crime drama what with CSI, NCIS, Blue Bloods, and The Mentalist.
Okay you caught me out. The only stuff I've ever watched by hbo is sex and the city. And only one season of desperate housewives.
Besides which everything was still in the early stages. I would have done my homework when it came time to write it. I try and put the effort into my April fools. It's what makes them more believable.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
no! no! no! no! NO!!!! I demand answers! I demand pain and suffering to those who decided an American Sherlock would be a good idea!!!!! NO NO NO NO NO!!!! Urgh. Well this has just ruined my evening.... Yet... I can see a Twilight style "Team Benedict", "Team Jonny" thing happening among the more nerdier fans... I am included in this.
^ brilliant signature :) I just think that it would be wrong. Trust me, I'm no patriot, but I'd hate to see an American version of Sherlock. It wouldn't work! He has always lived at 221B Baker Street, London - you can't just take him to the other side of the pond. Team Benedict all the way :D (also slightly team Robert Downey Jnr, but more Benedict).
I stopped reading after that. HBO show some of the best TV programmes ever made, for example Boardwalk Empire, The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiam, and Rome.
To be fair to CBS, they have quite a history of the decent crime drama what with CSI, NCIS, Blue Bloods, and The Mentalist.
Ha, I was about to say that! They had Carnivale, In Treatment, Big Love, Six Feet Under, tons of good stuff.
If you want to pick on an awful American channel, take MTV.
I don't have sky, just freeview. I don't get any of those programs.
Don't be fooled by my smooth skin. The deepest scars are the ones unseen.
Remember compliments you received, forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how..~ Baz Lurhman.
Letting it get to you - You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now that's all that counts. ~ Doctor Who "The Doctors Wife" 06.November.2011
