Previously, Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct but when he couldn’t get George Clooney to sign on, the project went into a tailspin. The studio considered Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum, Joel Kinnaman, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender but those castings did not come to fruition. Guy Ritchie is currently in the director’s chair but hasn’t had much luck casting this sumbitch either after offers to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were turned down. If Cruise decides to pass, Ritchie will also walk. Why they don’t just offer it to Liam Neeson, I do not know. He’ll star in anything.

Not to tell studios how to do their job or anything, but I think they’d have a lot more luck finding their lead if the character wasn’t named Napoleon Solo. Sounds porny. (THR)

Warner Bros. likes the magic he spun with the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle series, so now they’ve signed him up to do more of the same (presumably) with Robert Louis Stevenson’s tropical saga. Maybe after that he’ll get back to those uniquely told caper films?

Eh. Not so fast.

His name has also been bandied about in conjunction with a Cannonball Run remake, which sounds slightly better than Treasure Island, but still not as good as anything he did before that, not counting Swept Away, which shouldn’t be counted towards anything.

It’s just talks right now, but I could see them totally going steady. It’s really just a matter if Ritchie and Wigram are willing to up route their lives and move to the 1960′s for the adaptation. (THR)

Like the original entry, this installment appears to be an action film that just happens to have some famous literary characters in it. Like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but much less awful. However, it’s not all cookie-cutter, as it appears the role of “Rachel McAdams” will be played by her understudy, Noomi Rapace, who is on loan from the David Fincher collection.

Once you get past the explosions, the cross-dressing, and Watson’s visible contempt for his employer…there really isn’t a whole lot left. So I hope you like explosions and smug RDJ!

These posters are pretty cool, if conventional. And, surprise, they’re very reminiscent of the posters for the first Sherlock Holmes movie. As Sherlock once said to Watson: “My dear Watson, if it isn’t broken, then why endeavor upon fixing it?” (Yahoo!)

This is madness. This is Warner Bros.

After director Zack Snyder‘s run of box office disappointments about owls – the funny to say Owls of Ga’Hoole and Watchmen, which featured that crazy/awkward Owlship sex scene - it seems like Warner Bros. may not be so keen on Mr. Snyder. There are rumors that his Superman: Man Of Steel script has major third act problems and recent test audiences feel like they got sucker punched after watching Sucker Punch. Mr. Snyder must be suffering from a major hoot-ache right now. (I was going for an owl/”headache” joke, not an owl/”footache” joke, but only time will tell how that pun gets interpreted.)

A sign that things have gone south between the WB and Snyder? They’ve offered director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) the sequel to Snyder’s box office smash 300. Called Xerxes, all we know for now is that it’s called Xerxes and will likely center around that Prussian king… y’know, What’s-his-name… Baldy McChainface. The real insult is that the story for the sequel – also based on a Frank Miller graphic novel – was developed for the screen by Snyder, with intentions to direct it himself.

Ho boy. Looks like Warner execs just kicked Snyder into the pit on this one. (Vulture)

How do we feel about this title? Did you need a colon added to pique your interest, or are you even less intrigued now? I do wonder about this game involving shadows though. What are the rules? How many players are allowed? And most importantly, can alcohol be integrated into it? (/Film)

If this story is to be believed (don’t believe it), Ritchie wants George Clooney to play the role Burt Reynolds played in the original films. I’d be interested to see Ritchie’s take on the concept of an illegal cross-country race (always felt the original needed more bloodshed), but I really can’t believe this is true. First off, Ritchie is busy with Sherlock Holmes 2, Clooney has a thousand projects in the works, and Larry the Cable Guy would have to dig way too deep to pull off Captain Chaos.

So mark me down as the skeptic. We have a better chance at getting an apology from Kurt Sutter than we do at ever seeing Ritchie remake Cannonball Run. (Badass Digest)

^{Sweet belt-buckle, bro!!}

There’s been a lot of speculation about who would end up playing Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes 2. The list of candidates for the role of Holmes’s greatest enemy boasted big names such as Brad Pitt and Daniel Day Lewis. And now, the waiting is over. Without further ado, the man who will play Sherlock Holmes‘s archnemesis is…. "Mad Men’s" Jared Harris. Wait, what? The nerd who got drunk and put a steak on his crotch? That’s the guy we’re talking about here? Shut the front door.

Latino Review broke the story first and I was skeptical. Then Collider confirmed the story and I was less leery, but this still seems like a long shot to me. Guy Ritchie does realize this movie will be playing in America, right?

Stephen Fry has joined the cast of Sherlock Holmes 2. Guy Ritchie‘s exxxtreme take on British literature will add Fry in the role of Holmes’s older brother, Mycroft. Here’s what the witty actor had to say of the part:

"I’m playing Mycroft in the sequel to the Sherlock Holmes film Guy Ritchie directed with Robert Downey Jr., and that sort of part is fun, but just once in a while to play a genuine all round sort of lead figure with complexity and tragedy and wit and all the sort of things that Oscar [Wilde] had was a once in a lifetime thrill."

Okay. Can someone translate that from British to English for me and let me know if it was witty or not? Anyway, in the original stories, Mycroft was considered just as brilliant as Sherlock but was lazy and unwilling to prove his deductions. There’s no word yet how the character will be shaped in the sequel nor any on whether or not he’ll be an exxxtreme cage fighter. (Bleeding Cool)

_{There’s a clue inside the baby.}

The original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Noomi Rapace has become the new "it" actress in Hollywood. She recently signed on to deliver death alongside Jeremy Renner in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and now she’s secured a role in Sherlock Holmes 2. The logline is being kept under wraps, but Noomi is said to be playing a French Gypsy. It is unclear if the role is romantic in nature. One would think Holmes would be smart enough to not trust a Gypsy, but when they cast an evil spell on you at a street fair you can’t resist them. It’s the only way I can explain the atrocious lamp in my living room. (THR)

^{"I’ll use this to bludgeon Sean Penn. Special thanks to the Academy."}

Those with dreams of seeing Daniel Day Lewis square off against Robert Downey Jr. with a bowling pin in one hand and a cleaver in the other may be out of luck. Or in luck if they’re as delusional as Guy Ritchie. His Sherlock Holmes 2 Moriarty wishlist leaked and Double-D Lewis is perched at the top, followed by Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, and Gary Oldman.

As awesome as it would be to see Lewis lord over all the criminals in England, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll take the part. Like anyone at the top of their game, he’s super-choosy with his roles, and more apt to pick a part that challenges him on some deep level. And let’s face it. The first Sherlock Holmes was pretty silly. We’ll keep you posted on Moriarty casting as this story develops and would like to throw John Malkovich‘s name into the running. Seems like he’ll be in anything. (Production Weekly)

Extra!  Extra!  Getch yer new trailer for Guy Ritchie’s hard-hitting, pipe-smoking, mutton chop-sporting adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic, starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong and a bunch of dodgy cockney spivs!