ROBERT DOWNEY JR - WILL HOLMES AND WATSON BE GAY IN NEW MOVIE?

WILL HOLMES AND WATSON BE GAY IN NEW MOVIE?

The British tabloid News of the World' s suggestion that the upcoming Sherlock Holmes film will imply a homosexual relationship between Holmes and Dr. Watson is kicking up a minor ruckus. The Sunday newspaper, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, quoted Robert Downey Jr., who stars as Holmes in the movie along with Jude Law as Watson, as saying, "We're two men who happen to be roommates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's bad-ass." The New York Post , another News Corp newspaper, picked up the story on Tuesday and quoted conservative critic Michael Medved as saying that "making Holmes and Watson homosexual will take away two-thirds of their box office. Who is going to want to see Downey Jr. and Law make out?" The inference, however, may be off the mark. In Holmes's time, it was commonplace for two straight roommates to share a bed (consider even the Laurel and Hardy movies). And no one accused Inspector Clouseau of having a gay relationship with his martial-arts-loving assistant. And Downey never suggested in his News of the World interview that the two characters have a sexual relationship. Director Guy Ritchie, he said, "wanted to make this about the relationship between Watson and Holmes. They're both mean and complicated."

05/08/2009