Mr. Holmes
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Short description
In 1947, Sherlock Holmes is living out his retirement in a Sussex farmhouse with his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro, and her young son, Roger, keeping bees and tending his garden. At ninety-three, his memory is failing him, and he has grown weary of the fictionalized version of his life that has appeared in print and on screen. What still troubles him is the case that drove him away from detective work decades earlier, a mystery he was never able to resolve. With Roger's help, he sets out to write down what really happened and to make sense of the fragments he can still recall.
Bill Condon directed the film, working from a screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher. It followed Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, the two Breaking Dawn films and The Fifth Estate in Condon's filmography, and preceded Beauty and the Beast. Ian McKellen plays Holmes, with Laura Linney as Mrs. Munro, Milo Parker as Roger, Hiroyuki Sanada as Tamiki Umezaki, Roger Allam as Dr. Barrie and Frances de la Tour as Madame Schirmer. Thirty-one cast members and fifty-five crew members are credited.
Made on a budget of about 11 million dollars, the film took roughly 29 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.8 from around 70,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from about 2,000 votes. A critics' rating of 7.1 from 183 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Bill Condon made the film “The Fifth Estate” (2013), which starred Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the actors who played Sherlock.
- Ian McKellen starred alongside his friend Derek Jacobi in the film "Sinners" (2013). Jacobi provides the voice for many audiobooks about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Considering that the stories are told from the perspective of Dr. John Watson, it can be said that Derek Jacobi has also played this character.
- Sir Ian McKellen, who played Sherlock Holmes, and Frances de la Tour, who played Madame Schirmer, starred together in the British comedy "Sinners" (2013).
- Ian McKellen and Hiroyuki Sanada starred together in the "X-Men" franchise film "The Wolverine" (2013), though they did not share any scenes.
- The film premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015.
- The actor who played Inspector Gilbert, Philip Davis, plays a taxi driver in the first episode of "Sherlock" (2010).
- Ian McKellen said in one interview that the costume was made for him from a very unfortunate material that chafed his skin in various places. Because of this, he is not sure if he will want to play in sequels to the film, if they are made.
- While preparing for filming, Ian McKellen did not reread the stories about his character. He once said that he had had enough work with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, when he carefully studied the text of the novel, and then during filming he couldn't focus on the role when the plot deviated from the original source in any way.
- In "Gods and Monsters" (1998), Bill Condon already directed Ian McKellen as an elderly man trying to revive his former mental acuity. Laura Linney's performance in "Mr. Holmes" echoes Lynn Redgrave's performance in "Gods and Monsters".
- The novel "The Bees of Mr. Holmes," which served as the basis for the film, was also released as an audiobook. It is narrated by Simon Jones. Jones played the role of Arthur Dent in the television adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1979). In the film "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005), this role was played by Martin Freeman, who played Dr. John Watson in the television series "Sherlock" (2010).
- The taxidermist's office that Ann looks into through the window belongs to Ambrose Chapple. In Alfred Hitchcock's film "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1955), James Stewart searches for his kidnapped son with a taxidermist named Ambrose Chapple.
- Ian McKellen stated that it was not difficult for him to imagine Sherlock Holmes in real life, as the events of the film mostly unfold during his own lifetime, so he could well have met the detective in 1947, when he was still a child like Roger.
- In some episodes, age pigmentation was applied to Holmes's face with makeup to show the aging process and the onset of senile dementia.
- Filming of episodes in the Diogenes Club took place at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire. Hatfield House was also used for filming “Sherlock Holmes” (2009), where it depicted Mr. Thomas’s house, as well as the “Miss Marple” (2004) series about the investigating lady, the heroine of classic detective novels.
- In preparation for filming, Ian McKellen attended beekeeping courses organized by "London Honey Company". He was not stung by a single bee during the filming process.
- The film is based on Mitch Cullin's novel "Mr. Holmes" (2005).
- Initially, the film was going to be titled "Mr. Holmes' Bees," like the novel by Mitch Cullin on which it is based, but the filmmakers then preferred the simpler title "Mr. Holmes."
- In Nicholas Rowe’s “Young Sherlock Holmes,” Sir Michael Hordern voiced the role of Watson, the same one who once played Gandalf in the BBC radio adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings.” While playing Gandalf, Ian McKellen worked with Martin Freeman, who played Watson in “Sherlock” (2010). Alan Cox played the role of young Watson, whose father Brian Cox filmed with McKellen in “X2: X-Men United” (2003).
- Ian McKellen starred alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in “The Hobbit” trilogy. Cumberbatch and Freeman played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in the “Sherlock” (2010) series.
- In one of the films about himself that Sherlock Holmes watches, his role is played by Nicholas Rowe. Rowe actually played the famous detective in the film "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985).
- This is the fourth collaboration between actress Laura Linney and director Bill Condon.
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