Lost ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie found 100 years later
A 1916 silent movie about fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, long thought to be lost, has been found by Cinematheque Francaise. The film, starring William Gillette, is a vital missing link in the history of Holmes on screen.
The newly found film is not only Gillette’s sole surviving appearance as Holmes, it is also the only film Gillette ever made. Directed by Arthur Berthelet and produced by Essanay Studios in 1916, a nitrate dupe negative of Sherlock Holmes was found in the vaults of the Cinematheque Francaise a few weeks ago. Gillette was the world’s foremost interpreter of Holmes on stage at the time the film was made. He gave his face and manner to the detective and inspired the classic illustrations of Frederic Dorr Steele. He played Holmes in the colorful attire—bent-stemmed briar, ornate dressing gown, and deerstalker cap— that has been identified ever since with the character.
Gillette’s performance was liked by Arthur Conan Doyle himself, who had killed Holmes off and thought he was through with the character. After reading Gillette’s adaptation for the stage, he had said, “It’s good to see the old chap back.” Gillette wove bits from Conan Doyle’s stories ranging from ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ to ‘The Final Problem’ into an original, innovative mystery play. (PTI)
‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ will film in Australia
Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth film in the Johnny Depp starrer franchise, will shoot in Queensland, Australia.
The production on the Disney film is set to get under way in February 2015, the studio confirmed. Depp is expected to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the film.
The Australian government has approved USD 18.9 million in location-based incentives to the secure the shoot in the country which is separate from the incentives that it will receive from Queensland, said the Hollywood Reporter.
The film is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Kon-Tiki directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg. ‘Pirates 5’ is slated to release on July 7, 2017. (PTI)
Zeta-Jones to play drug lord in ‘The Godmother’
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is all set to play a drug kingpin in the true story crime movie ‘The God mother’. Directed by Norwegian helmer Eva Sørhaug, Zeta-Jones will star as Griselda Blanco, the first and only woman to rise to the higher echelons of Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel, reported Deadline.
Blanco was a fearsome figure at the center of the Miami drug wars of the 1970s and ’80s. Her reign of terror, in which she’s suspected to have ordered hundreds of assassinations to stay in money and power, was so vicious and violent that it earned her the nicknames La Madrina, Black Widow, and the Cocaine Godmother. Blanco was assassinated in Colombia in 2012. (PTI)
Carice van Houten joins Jesse Owens biopic
Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten has been cast in the upcoming Jesse Owens biopic ‘Race’. The 38-year-old actress has joined the Stephan James-starring film about the Olympic gold medallist, reported Digital Spy. Carice, who plays priestess Melisandre on the HBO show, will star in the film alongside Jeremy Irons and Jason Sudeikis.
James plays US sprinter Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, humiliating Adolf Hitler and his claims of Aryan racial superiority. Hitler had attempted to ban black and Jewish athletes from the games, but backed down in the face of a threatened boycott. Sudeikis will play the runner’s coach and mentor Larry Snyder, with Irons as head of the Olympic Committee that supported hosting the games in Nazi Germany. (PTI)