'Sherlock Holmes' Sequel Shows Off Downey And Law's 'Brotherhood'

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."

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