SUGGESTION FOR THE WEEKEND: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes has made his reputation finding the truth at the heart of the most complex mysteries. With the aid of Dr. John Watson, his trusted ally, the renowned “consulting detective” is unequaled in his pursuit of criminals of every stripe, whether relying on his singular powers of observation, his remarkable deductive skills, or the blunt force of his fists.

But now a storm is gathering over London, a threat unlike anything that Holmes has ever confronted…and just the challenge he’s looking for.

After a string of brutal, ritualistic murders, Holmes and Watson arrive just in time to save the latest victim and uncover the killer: the unrepentant Lord Blackwood. As he approaches his scheduled hanging, Blackwood—who has terrorized inmates and jailers alike with his seeming connection to dark and powerful forces—warns Holmes that death has no power over him and, in fact, his execution plays right into Blackwood’s plans.

And when, by all indications, Blackwood makes good on his promise, his apparent resurrection panics London and confounds Scotland Yard. But to Holmes, the game is afoot.

Racing to stop Blackwood’s deadly plot, Holmes and Watson plunge into a world of the dark arts and startling new technologies, where logic is sometimes the best crime-fighting weapon…but where a good right hook will often do the job.

In a dynamic new portrayal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous character, Robert Downey Jr. plays the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. Revealing fighting skills as powerful as his famous intellect, Holmes employs his own unique methods to get to the heart of a case, traveling where no one else would think to go to find what others cannot see.

Jude Law portrays Watson, Holmes’s longtime colleague, who is joining him in what may be their last case before the doctor starts a new life as a married man. Rachel McAdams is Irene Adler, a woman from America, who is as alluring as she is dangerous, and whose tempestuous relationship with the detective has become the one puzzle he cannot solve. Mark Strong plays Lord Blackwood, whose own intellect, combined with merciless ambition, makes him a formidable adversary. Eddie Marsan appears as Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade, who is both impressed and frustrated by the great Sherlock Holmes.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Silver Pictures Production, in association with Wigram Productions, a Guy Ritchie Film, “Sherlock Holmes.” Ritchie directed the film from a screenplay by Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg, screen story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson. Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin produced the film, with Michael Tadross and Bruce Berman serving as executive producers and Steve Clark-Hall co-producing.

The accomplished behind-the-scenes creative team includes Oscar®-winning director of photography Philippe Rousselot (“A River Runs Through It”), Oscar®-nominated production designer Sarah Greenwood (“Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice”), editor James Herbert (“RocknRolla”), and Oscar®-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan (“A Room With a View”). The music is by Oscar® winner and multiple Oscar®-nominated composer Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King,” “Gladiator”).

“Sherlock Holmes” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. The film has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of violence and action, some startling images and a scene of suggestive material.

www.sherlock-holmes-movie.com

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please visit: http://press.warnerbros.com

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

A TIMELESS CHARACTER

IN AN ALL-NEW ADVENTURE

“Crime is common. Logic is rare.”

For generations, Sherlock Holmes has embodied the gift of seeing beyond the obvious—of discerning the truth from within the haze of deception. Created in the late 19th century, in a series of stories and novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the brilliant detective has become one of pop culture’s most enduring figures, whose adventures are among the most widely read in the history of the English language.

“He was probably the first superhero, an intellectual superhero,” states Robert Downey Jr., the Oscar®-nominated actor who takes on the title role in “Sherlock Holmes.” “He was, and probably still is, one of the most recognizable icons on Earth, so much so that a lot of people actually thought that Sherlock Holmes was a real person. The more you look into Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, the more you see what a rich character Sherlock Holmes is. He’s very adept at so many things: he plays violin, he’s a martial artist, a boxer, an expert single stick fighter and a swordsman of sorts. He has a strong moral code in helping good guys catch bad guys, so he has dedicated his life to being a consulting detective. He doesn’t do it to show everyone how smart he is, or that he has figured everything else out when they haven’t; he’s actually a crusader.”

In this spirit, the cast and filmmakers of “Sherlock Holmes” set out to delve deeper into Conan Doyle’s four novels and 56 self-contained short stories to peel back the layers on Holmes. “We’ve tried to take him back to what we believe to be his origin, which is essentially a more visceral character,” says the film’s director, Guy Ritchie, who has been a Holmes fan since childhood. “We’ve tried to integrate that and make him more streetwise. He is inquisitive about chemistry, martial arts, and the human condition. Yet he managed to percolate through all the different echelons of English society, which was tremendously complex. But then, as now, Sherlock Holmes is unique; there’s really no one else like him. I think that’s why his appeal has stuck. And while our story is rooted in London of the 1890s, we have tried to make it as contemporary as we possibly can.”

“This film brings out qualities in Holmes that are relatively unknown but incredibly cinematic and true to the character and the adventures that Conan Doyle created,” producer Joel Silver offers. “The previous adaptations of Sherlock Holmes turned the stories into something a bit more detective noir on the big screen over the years, but at their core, these were action novels. Holmes really is an 1890s man of action, with insight and intelligence that eclipse everyone else around him, including Scotland Yard.”

The screenplay for “Sherlock Holmes” is by Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg, from an original story by Lionel Wigram and Michael Robert Johnson. Wigram, who is also a producer on the film, has been a fan of Holmes since reading the stories as a child. “When I became a producer, I reread all the stories and realized that there was a new way to do Sherlock,” he says. “Initially, I made a comic book, which was really a way to show how cool and fun Sherlock could be. I also wanted to explore his humanity and vulnerability and the issues he has to deal with because of his genius; he’s as modern a character now as he was back when he was originally created.”

Wigram spoke to members of the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of Holmes experts from around the world who meet once a year in New York to exchange notes and ideas and discuss their hero. “Meeting them was a humbling experience,” Wigram recalls. “I thought I was a fan and knew about Holmes, but it’s nothing compared to the expertise and knowledge of these people. They were also completely supportive of the film, which was an immense relief. Les Klinger, one of the Irregulars’ trustees and noted scholar of Sherlockiana, even advised us on language and factual details.”

The filmmakers hoped to make “Sherlock Holmes” a movie-going experience that would create the kind of excitement that made the original works so popular and enduring. “We really felt that we had an opportunity, with today’s technology, to do justice to the story in bringing this incredible vision to life,” says producer Susan Downey. “There is a whole generation that doesn’t know much about Sherlock Holmes beyond the name. And there are longtime fans that have an affection for the deerstalker hat and the ‘Elementary, my dear Watson,’ which are not in this movie. But we hope to be truer to the source material by bringing out the action in the stories. We were able to take the scope of the stories, as well as what is suggested in the books, and put that on screen.”

“It’s certainly an adventure, just as the stories seemed to me when I first read them,” adds Jude Law, who plays John Watson. “There’s still the cerebral intrigue and science and suspense of the original stories, but there’s also the brawling and mayhem that is faithfully brought in from the novels. My great hope is that Conan Doyle fans really enjoy it because I’ve become a huge fan myself and am very respectful of the legacy. I do think we’ve been faithful, but we’ve also injected our characters with dimensions that have never been brought out before. Guy Ritchie is brilliant at making drama physical and incredibly skilled at keeping the energy high.”

Silver agrees, noting, “Though this film takes place in the Victorian period, Guy’s edgy sensibility and fresh approach to the material give you all the rich layers of mystery and drama you’d expect, but with unexpected action and humor that make ‘Sherlock Holmes’ an exciting and incredibly fun cinematic experience.”

FRIENDS & ADVERSARIES:

THE CAST AND CHARACTERS OF “SHERLOCK HOLMES”

“Mr. Holmes, you must widen your gaze. I’m concerned you

underestimate the gravity of coming events. For you and I are

bound on a journey that will twist the very fabric of nature.”

“Sherlock Holmes” unfolds against the backdrop of London in 1890, when the city seems at the center of the world, with technology extending mankind’s reach and all things new racing to replace the old. “There’s a growing engagement in technologies of the near future, and this sense of wonderment,” Robert Downey Jr. observes. “They’re verging on all these incredible things.”

But for all the polish and prestige, 1890s London is also a cesspool into which all the criminals of contemporary society drain…which makes it the ideal city for a man like Sherlock Holmes. Downey continues, “You have this incredibly fascinating yet dangerous city, and Holmes knows every inch of it. He feels that this is his city in which to engage the enemy. And he knows what he’s up against.”

For Guy Ritchie, having Downey in the title role became the key to unlocking a new interpretation of “Sherlock Holmes.” “In my opinion, Robert is the perfect Holmes,” says the director. “He’s American, but his English accent is flawless and he has an international feel to him. In his own way, Robert’s also a bit of a genius. He’s tremendously smart and quick-witted, and is very comfortable playing a character like Holmes without any artifice or pretension.”

Producer Susan Downey agrees. “The eloquence of Holmes, his use of words and language, seems to come very naturally to Robert. There is also real physicality to the role in our film. Holmes participates in bare-knuckle boxing fights and practices martial arts, which Robert has been doing for the past six years. So, it was a very natural progression to immediately think of Robert as Holmes.”

Holmes’s unconventional quirks and understated idealism resonated with the actor. “He’s an archetype,” Robert Downey Jr. asserts. “There’s something so monastic about him—his intentions are so pure, and his moral code is strengthened by his resolve and his actions. When he feels he’s not inspired or motivated by some creative charge, he’ll fall into a state where he barely speaks a word for three days, and when he’s engaged, he has incredible amounts of energy, super-human energy. He says, ‘There’s nothing more stimulating than a case where nothing goes your way.’ And, in the end, Holmes’s passionate curiosity and his ability to not only see but interpret these details are what make him so unique.”

Holmes would not be who he is without Watson, his enabler, his collaborator, his friend. As with Holmes, the filmmakers felt that the Dr. Watson of the books is far more of a dynamic character than the one depicted in past movies and television series. “Watson has sometimes been portrayed as a sort of bumbling fool against Holmes’s great, lofty genius,” says Ritchie, “but that really isn’t the case. Watson is a much more significant individual than that. They really are a team.”

In “Sherlock Holmes,” Watson is as tough as they come. “He’s a war veteran just back from the Afghan war; he’s been wounded and has been through hardship,” Wigram describes. “He’s a strong, physical man and he knows how to handle himself. Although he’s not a mad genius like Holmes, he’s a very clever man.”

In many ways, the casting of Jude Law as Watson was every bit as crucial as that of Downey as Holmes. “It seems impossible to imagine anyone else being Watson once we cast Jude,” says Ritchie. “I wanted a good-looking Watson. I didn’t want him to be subservient or inferior, but rather a bit of a hero with an equal partnership with Holmes. I believe that’s to a degree what Conan Doyle was really after.”

Jude Law was familiar with Holmes and Watson since reading the stories as a child and marveled at how much of Watson has been unexplored up until now. “He’s been in a brutal war and has experienced horror and physical pain,” says the actor. “With that military background in mind, I really wanted him to represent the slightly more buttoned-up, polished professional, with Holmes being the slightly more wayward, eccentric dilettante. But Watson is far from just bumbling along; he’s in the middle of the action—sometimes tearing in ahead of Holmes.”

In addition to joining Holmes in his investigations, Watson is also the storyteller in the Sherlock Holmes canon. “If there wasn’t Watson, there would be no Holmes because Holmes never talks about what he does, but Watson is with him every step of the way,” says Downey.

“Watson has always been, and remains, the eyes of the audience watching this great man unravel these extraordinary knots of clues,” Law explains. “He definitely gets his hands dirty in their cases together, but he is also in awe when Holmes just lets loose with his incredible photographic memory or ability to decipher exactly what transpired and how it was done.”

Their friendship plays an important role in both their work and their private lives. “They’re tremendously close and we show how that manifests itself,” Ritchie notes. “There’s a lot of humor in it, some jealousy, but a real affection and sincerity about the partnership. They need each other for balance; Holmes is the creative genius and Watson’s the more temperate and disciplined of the two.”

From the moment Downey and Law met, the two actors began a rich collaboration that was reflected in their performances. “Robert and Jude became great friends,” says Silver. “Their chemistry onscreen is powerful. They have an almost telepathic ability to be in sync, and create this wonderful dynamic that drives their partnership.”

“Jude has a huge intellect and love of the game,” Downey adds. “The second we met, we just started bouncing ideas off each other. We were very much on the same page, which is a pretty eccentric page. He really knows what he’s doing and yet he’s also very open to letting things flow. We really worked as a team to do justice to these characters and their friendship.”

“I think the essence I wanted to bring—and what I know Guy and Robert looked to me for—was a yin, if you like, to Holmes’s yang,” Law comments. “Robert and I talked a lot about how we could balance out each other’s characters so that together they make a perfect whole, and many of the descriptions of the two of them in the books convey that they are incredibly powerful together because they support each other so, and their friendship is so deeply rooted. We could also at times be incredibly humorous because there’s a part of Holmes that infuriates Watson and vice versa.”

Nonetheless, Holmes’s mastery of detection renders him both ally and foil of Scotland Yard and its lead inspector, Lestrade, played by Eddie Marsan. “Lestrade is a public official and does things by the book, which is the exact opposite of Holmes,” says Marsan. “They work side-by-side, and not always comfortably. But there is no shortage of criminals in London in Lestrade’s time, and while he doesn’t approve of Holmes’s methods, he wants to see the crimes solved and the bad guys caught, and, more often than not, Holmes helps him get there.”

“Holmes knows that nobody is as far out as he is in their methodology, so it’s very unlikely that anyone is going to get the results he does,” Downey remarks. “And I think he prides himself on that. That’s the root of his self-esteem—the pains he takes are great. He really wants to be of service.”

But the successful partnership of Holmes and Watson takes a surprising hit when Watson falls in love with, and plans to marry, Mary Morstan, played by Kelly Reilly. “Mary loves Watson very much, and she also admires Holmes, who sees her as a bit of a threat,” says Reilly. “He believes that if Watson gets married and moves away, it will jeopardize their partnership…and that may be the case.”

Holmes is shaken by the notion that Watson is so determined to make a new life with Mary. “Holmes can’t understand why Watson would want anything other than what they already have,” says Susan Downey. “Over the course of the film, we come to understand what they need in each other. Watson provides the balance for Holmes. In many ways, he’s his touchstone to the real world.”

“Holmes leads a solitary life and is dedicated to the art of detection,” says Wigram. “He doesn’t really believe in love because it might interfere with his work. And he isn’t interested in marriage or having any kind of typical relationship with a woman. He’s too unconventional for that.”

The exception is Irene Adler. An American from New Jersey traveling abroad, she is a daring woman ahead of her time who lives on the edge of the law. Though not a regular in the Sherlock Holmes collection, Irene made a highly memorable appearance in Conan Doyle’s short story “A Scandal in Bohemia” as the only woman to have bested Holmes. “I imagined her as a secret agent of sorts who seduces men and steals from them, very Mata Hari,” comments Wigram. “I thought it would be a great idea to bring her into the story as someone who broke Holmes’s heart and got under his skin.”

To play Holmes’s great love and Achilles’ heel, the filmmakers cast Rachel McAdams. “Rachel struck me as the ideal Irene,” says Ritchie. “She portrays her with this fantastic benign façade under which is the serpent of the most nefarious nature. She’s not to be trusted at all. Even when she’s got a blade to your throat, she smiles. Her sweetness is a front she uses to be as efficient in a man’s world as she is.”

“Irene is a bit of a mystery, so it was fun getting to unveil her layers,” offers McAdams. “The relationship between Irene and Holmes is so volatile and unorthodox; they walk a fine line between loving each other and distrusting each other. She’s had many lives and she lives in the moment. Really, she’s a woman living like a man, which was very uncommon for the period, so I had to balance the elegance of her femininity with her reckless, dangerous nature.”

As much as Irene distracts Holmes, she also presents him with a puzzle akin to the kinds he unravels in his work. It is in this capacity that Lord Blackwood attracts his singular focus. Though Blackwood’s initial crimes—murdering young women in apparent ritual sacrifices—proved little challenge to Holmes, Blackwood’s apparent “resurrection” from the dead is, for Holmes, the perfect case.

Utilizing spiritualism, Blackwood casts himself as a powerful dark lord who will use the forces of evil to take over the world. “In the late Victorian period, there was a lot of interest in the spiritual world,” comments Wigram. “Around that time, there were people like Aleister Crowley and Rasputin, who followed the occult and were very good at convincing people that they had access to a power beyond our world. Holmes is very attracted to the idea of debunking someone like Blackwood.”

“Lord Blackwood is a wonderfully arcane, evil counterpoint to Holmes,” says Mark Strong, who takes on the role of Blackwood. “He dabbles in the occult and would have people believe that he can come back from the dead. In doing so, he’s terrorizing the people of London, making them believe he’s become a supernatural being. At the same time, he’s also inventing a number of things before their time. He creates an interesting dilemma for Holmes, who is a scientist and a pragmatist. I wanted Blackwood to be a mysterious character, and he is a dangerous threat. He has his reasons for doing the terrible things he does. I hope that I’ve made him a worthy opponent for Holmes.”

“Sherlock Holmes” marks Ritchie’s third collaboration with Strong, having worked with him on “Revolver” and “RocknRolla.” Ritchie felt the actor brought the gravity needed for Blackwood to provide a formidable challenge for the detective. “Mark is a fantastic chameleon,” says the director. “He’s one of the very few actors who can turn what could otherwise be a rather theatrical line into something that’s credible, which was needed with the character of Blackwood, who is quite dramatic and imposing.”

In spite of the cloak of the supernatural Blackwood draws over the proceedings, “Holmes will err on the side of logic every time and believes the stranger something is the simpler the explanation will be,” Downey says. “He believes that whatever Blackwood is doing can be explained in the larger scientific world. He says, ‘Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’ The purity of reasoning is what sets Holmes apart, and makes him possibly the only man on Earth who can stop Blackwood.”

FIRST POINT OF ATTACK:

THE ACTION OF “SHERLOCK HOLMES”

“It does make considerable difference to me having

someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely.”

In the film, as in the books, both Holmes and Watson know their way around a fight and their skills are frequently tested. Holmes is a skilled martial artist; this propensity links him with both the star and director of “Sherlock Holmes,” as Downey and Ritchie have practiced martial arts for years, and worked together to create Holmes’s distinct fighting style. “Doyle called it Baritsu in the novels, which is tied to a 19th-century hybrid of jujitsu that is actually called Bartitsu, created by Edward William Barton-Wright,” Downey explains. “Jujitsu is Guy’s chosen martial art. Mine is Wing Chun Kung Fu. So, we developed our own combination of martial arts styles for the movie.”

As efficient as he is at neutralizing an enemy in the course of his work, Holmes is also known to blow off steam in a boxing ring at a working class pub called the Punch Bowl. Here, in front a raucous crowd, Holmes takes on a massive boxer named McMurdo, played by David Garrick, in a brutal bare-knuckle fight which showcases the detective’s prowess and physical strength.

“The bare-knuckle boxing ring is the only place where Holmes doesn’t think,” says Downey. “But even there he does think; he thinks about how to win the fight, but doesn’t think about all of these ongoing concerns of life. Interpersonal relations don’t enter into it. It’s just you and your opponent.”

“The Punch Bowl is where Holmes goes to hone his skill, to make mistakes, and test out techniques against very powerful opponents,” comments fight consultant Eric Oram, who for years has trained with Downey in Wing Chun Kung Fu and helped prepare the actor for the fight sequences. “He starts by using the least amount of force in the first half of the fight. It’s only after his opponent crosses the line that he wants to teach him a lesson.”

More out of necessity than choice, Watson too knows his way around a street fight, though he is more of a brawler compared to the fluid combat style of Holmes. “Watson is used to the up-close-and-personal fight-for-your-life stuff,” Downey attests. “He has a much more accessible but no less effective style than Holmes. As a matter of fact, there are often times when Holmes over thinks in order to come up with the best deduction, where Watson will just strike with any tool that’s handy.”

“Watson is a war veteran and used to thinking on his feet,” says stunt coordinator Franklin Henson. “He can throw a wild punch in reaction, and, like a street fighter, he’ll use whatever it takes—his head, knees or elbows—to bring an opponent down.”

Law relished participating in the fight sequences. “When you’re in the hands of someone like Guy, who shoots with such a unique eye, you know you’re not shooting a standard fight scene,” says the actor. “He’s always looking for a new way to reveal the story behind the fight, and he knows exactly what he wants. So it’s good fun.”

Director of photography Philippe Rousselot utilized lighting and camera to make the textures palpable and the fights a truly physical experience. “Guy wants the film to feel to the viewer as if you’re there,” Rousselot states. “A good example is the Punch Bowl fight. It was crucial to bring in every detail, from a miniscule drop of sweat to the effect of each blow on the opponent’s body to the sea of movement and tussling in the crowd.”

Ritchie also used these sequences to deconstruct Holmes’s thinking over the course of a fight. He and Rousselot accomplished this moment-by-moment technique using a high-speed digital camera called the Phantom, which creates an ultra-slow motion effect. “The Phantom takes one second of filming and strings it out over 40 or 50 seconds,” says the director. “The camera takes in a great deal of information in a very short period of time, which is the perfect lens through which to illustrate how Holmes’s mind operates. He is able to condense an enormous amount of information into a fraction of a second.”

For a key action sequence—on a multi-story set representing the half-constructed Tower Bridge—Ritchie rehearsed extensively with the actors, along with Oram and Henson, as well as fight coordinator Richard R. Ryan. “We worked very closely with quite a big stunt team,” notes co-producer Steve Clark-Hall. “They knew Robert’s capabilities, which are considerable, and were able to play to his strengths. Pulling off this degree of high intensity action in these stunt sequences was quite a team effort.”

Ritchie sought a strategic blend of rehearsal and spontaneity to ensure the chaos of fighting was reflected in the sequences. “I made the creative decision to make the film gritty, so I didn’t want things to be too choreographed,” he says. “We discussed everything, but we also made sure to leave room for improvisation. I didn’t want it to look too perfect.”

This sensibility appealed to Rachel McAdams, who had extensive stunt work in the Tower Bridge sequence. “Guy liked to keep things messy and keep the truth within this fantastical world,” she notes. “There’s always the temptation to get too refined when dealing with this period, but Guy made sure it was also rough and tumble and modernized. Doing this movie with Guy taught me to be really quick on my feet and precise, yet always open and flexible.”

Of course, humor was an important ingredient in the action and found its way into all the action scenes. “There needed to be moments of levity and other moments of gravity,” Ritchie offers. “So the funny bits got funnier and the darker bits got darker as we went along.”

FROM 221B BAKER STREET TO THE HEIGHTS OF TOWER BRIDGE:

PIECING TOGETHER SHERLOCK HOLMES’S LONDON

“Are you aware that is the first combination of bascule and suspension bridge?

What an industrious empire!”

In creating a tangible feel of Sherlock Holmes’s London, Guy Ritchie wanted to portray a city at the crossroads between the past and a newly dawning future—an expansive and gritty place with bold new architecture being layered over the old. “As the center of the Industrial Revolution, London really was throbbing with enthusiasm and creative energy,” Ritchie observes. “Tower Bridge was being built, one of the many very ambitious things the Victorians were undertaking at the time.”

“The film is set when the British Empire is at its height,” adds Robert Downey Jr. “There was a sense of being on the cusp of the modern age, with a real interest in technological developments.”

The directive on all levels of design was to be at once authentic and grounded in the reality of the times while also creating a fresh look for Holmes’s world. “That was the key to this film,” says costume designer Jenny Beavan. “My instruction was to avoid the infamous deerstalker hat that has become emblematic of the old Holmes,” she continues, noting that the deerstalker hat did not come from Conan Doyle’s words but from an early illustration of one of the stories. “Our Holmes has a rumpled, scruffy look. You get the sense that he throws his clothes on the floor when he’s done with them and picks anything out of the pile when he gets dressed. For example, he wears a dinner jacket for the meal with Watson and his fiancée Mary but gets the shirt and cravat just slightly wrong. There’s a bit of a vintage store feel to his clothes.”

“In the books, as in the film, we know that Holmes can spend weeks at a time holed up in his rooms, lying on the sofa, doing nothing,” comments Wigram. “If so, chances are he’d look a bit of a mess. He’s something of a Bohemian, so we took a more unconventional, romantic view for his wardrobe. We imagined he’d dress more like an artist or a poet than a businessman or gentleman of the era—I was thinking along the lines of the Rolling Stones in their Victorian phase,” he smiles.

In stark contrast to Holmes, Watson’s wardrobe is neat and smart, pristine and highly groomed. As a former soldier who has recently returned from the war in Afghanistan, his dress code is defined by his military background. “Thick Harris tweeds give Watson a solidity, a man-of-the-Earth look,” says Beavan. “His three-piece suits are in browns and blues and he dons a square crown bowler, which is very proper and masculine and felt very Watson-like.”

Irene Adler’s costumes were particularly detailed, as well. For Irene, Beavan took authentic 19th-century costumes and gave them a twist. “The cutting and patterns are contemporary to the era, but I decided to use accents of strong colors—shocking pinks and blues—to lift them,” Beavan explains.

She also dressed Irene in some softer colors, such as the blue suit with black lace blouse in the Punch Bowl scenes, and a practical Donegal tweed suit for when she goes on the run. Fabrics for Irene’s dresses included duchess satin shaped into highly sculptural swirls and twists, and silk velvet. One of Beavan’s most inventive creations was Irene’s coat which splits to accommodate the bustle on the dress and features large sleeves to conceal weapons. She also has a number of hats, including two small bowlers.

To show Irene’s softer side, as well as her international style, Beavan created a beautiful silk kimono in shades of mauve and gold. “I was fortunate to find the perfect material in my own shop,” she recalls. “It was a silk damask with a slight floral weave. What made the material really striking was when we dyed it, the pattern separated, giving it a lot of dimension.”

The jewelry worn by Rachel McAdams’s character, Irene Adler, and Kelly Reilly’s Mary Morstan were not costume jewelry reproductions, but rare and priceless antique jewelry pieces provided by Martin Travis of Symbolic & Chase, located on Old Bond Street in London. Among the pieces chosen from their private collection were a 47-carat fancy yellow diamond, which, in the story, Irene purloined from a prince; a 19th-century spinel diamond pendant, also worn by Irene; and a 19th-century diamond necklace, worn by Mary, which Holmes correctly assesses she borrowed from her employer.

“The costumes were phenomenal,” McAdams declares. “It was great just to take in all the details, which give you answers to some of your own questions about your character. I could see what kind of jewelry Irene wore and the perfume she wears. And the clothes themselves were all so beautiful. The details and the time and painstaking energy people put into them were remarkable.”

Production designer Sarah Greenwood likewise parted from traditional depictions of Victorian England to reflect Ritchie’s vision. “This movie is funny, it’s visceral, it’s fast-paced and it’s energetic,” she says. “Our mandate from the beginning was to always keep those elements in mind in our design process.”

Greenwood worked with her team to create sets that looked and felt completely authentic. “Holmes is eccentric enough without being surrounded by fantastical sets,” she says. “That said, we could stretch the design a little. Really, it’s about encapsulating the period and using the environment to help tell the story.”

The overriding challenge for the production designer and her team was the tremendous scope of the film. “We go from the gutter to the grandeur of the Houses of Parliament, to the shipyard in Chatham Docks to the creepiness of the crypts, to the intimacy of Holmes’s rooms,” Greenwood describes.

This tremendous scope was achieved using a combination of authentic locations, specially adapted sets in the UK, and CGI. Later, production would move to New York City for soundstage work on some of the film’s more elaborate interior sets.

“Guy is used to getting out and shooting on location and has become very efficient at it,” says Clark-Hall. “You get a lot from being out on the streets. It’s tougher in a lot of respects, the control on the locations and all that. But you’re able to achieve so much in terms of sheer scale on location, especially in a big city like London with so much built-in history.”

The filmmakers used locations in London, Liverpool and Manchester to recreate what London would have looked like at the end of the 19th century. “It was quite a big challenge because Sarah was looking for big-scale areas around the Thames, the old city and Parliament. It turned out to be very tough because there are so many modern developments,” Clark-Hall recalls. “So, we shot in Liverpool and Manchester, as well as London, and were able to patch together all these details to create our Victorian London.”

“The locations on this film are a bit amazing,” Law states. “I was born and raised here and we went to places I’ve never been or even seen—really beautiful Victorian and Edwardian cobbled corners of London, Manchester and Liverpool. I learned so much about my home country over the course of this shoot.”

In the film, Holmes and Watson traverse through every echelon of London culture—from the gritty and industrial to the formal and opulent. The film commences within the depths of the 12th-century church of St. Bartholomew the Great, where Holmes and Watson close in on Blackwood to stop him from a brutal ritual sacrifice of a young woman. Other distinguished British structures used by the production included St. Paul’s Cathedral; the Reform Club, one of the city’s oldest and most famous private clubs (Conan Doyle was even a member); the Old Naval College in Greenwich; Somerset House overlooking the Thames; and Brompton Cemetery in Kensington, where a sole witness to Blackwood’s resurrection makes his startling claim.

One of the most ambitious set pieces—a chase through an operating 19th-century slaughterhouse—took place within a disused warehouse in London’s East End, where Greenwood and her team constructed a believable and brutal maze of moving machinery. The set was replete with blades, saws, and huge hooks hung from chain belts throughout the structure.

In the course of their investigation, Holmes and Watson find themselves in a makeshift laboratory where Blackwood’s operative, Luke Reordan, played by Oran Gurel, conducts ingenious but mystifying experiments. A building in London’s Spitalfields was transformed into a physical representation of Reordan’s tortured mind, with scrawled notes and biblical Latin and Hebrew notations pinned to the wall, crucifixes and pagan charms hanging from the ceiling, and dissected frogs and rats littering the surfaces.

“There’s a method to the chaos of Reordan’s lab, but it takes someone like Holmes to figure it out,” says Greenwood. “I didn’t want the lab to look too fantastical, like something from Jules Verne. It was about making sure everything looked real.”

An epic fight and chase that begins in Reordan’s lab spills over to a working dock, where a massive ship is in the midst of construction. In the course of this face-off, Holmes and Watson confront Blackwood’s giant-sized cohort Dredger, played by actor and professional wrestler Robert Maillet.

This major set was constructed at Chatham Historical Docks, outside London. The construction crew built the left half of the full-scale ship that, once assembled, spanned 230-feet-long by 15-feet-high, with a 15-foot section in the middle at full height of 30 feet. The ship would then be extended in height using computer-generated images in post production.

The ship pre-build took five weeks, then another five weeks at the Chatham location to put the jigsaw together. Greenwood’s team worked closely with the special effects department, who were creating collapsing walkways, juddering platforms and breakaway wooden tree trunks onsite for use during the sequence.

Once production wrapped in the UK, the team crossed the Atlantic to shoot on soundstages at the Marcy Avenue Armory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Inside the cavernous space, three key sets were built: the attic of the Punch Bowl, the interior of Sherlock Holmes’s living quarters at 221B Baker Street, and a portion of London’s famed Tower Bridge as it appeared while under construction in 1890.

The attic room above the Punch Bowl, where Holmes participates in bare-knuckle boxing matches, is a small and dingy space where Holmes meditates as he works to decipher the mystery surrounding Lord Blackwood. Greenwood explored with the director the kinds of imagery that would emanate from Holmes’s study of Blackwood’s spiritualism. “We’ve had a lot of symbolism, and a lot of imagery to do with the Temple of Four Orders, which is the secret sect that Blackwood uses in his plot,” she explains.

The team created one of the most important sets in the interior of Holmes’s rooms at 221B Baker Street, within a flat he shares with Watson and their landlady, Mrs. Hudson, played by Geraldine James. “It’s Mrs. Hudson’s room, decorated maybe twenty, thirty years ago, so it’s become slightly tatty since Holmes moved in,” Greenwood describes. “It’s not a conventional Victorian parlor at all; it’s the antithesis of that. Holmes has come in and has completely messed it up.”

Period furniture, drapery and a multitude of items found in flea markets, antique stores and rental houses were shipped from England to New York to decorate the inside of the Baker Street residence. “We brought all of the props here from England because British Victorian is very different from American Victorian,” set decorator Katie Spencer says. “It has a certain style and is very hard to get.”

In its clutter and chaos the apartment reveals both Conan Doyle’s depiction of Holmes’s disorganized personal habits and the detective’s brilliant, complex mind. “Everything is supposed to represent his journeys, his travels, his inquisitive nature into the human condition and the human anatomy, chemistry, and photography…frankly, anything that’s worthy of Holmes’s interest,” explains Ritchie.

Dog-eared books, newspapers, paintings from the Near East, unpaid bills, maps of Britain, anatomical drawings, Oriental carpets and a tiger skin rug, and half-eaten food from forgotten meals, not to mention Watson’s rather tolerant dog, Gladstone, can all be found in Holmes’s living quarters. In keeping with his profession, there are also wigs, mustaches and false noses for disguises, and a padded post for Holmes’s martial arts practice.

“It’s just minutia, but to him it’s really engaging,” Downey explains. “It’s those touches that really help you feel comfortable on this set. The reality of his job is that it entails long amounts of time spent in isolation, but when he’s not stimulated, it’s a fate worse than death. So, hopefully Baker Street embodies everything it takes for him not to be bored to death.”

“It was great to have an actor like Robert who cares about his environment, who will use the props in a way we didn’t imagine,” says Katie Spencer. “Something Robert very much wanted was that everything was here for a reason, as opposed to just being decoration.”

Greenwood, Spencer and the design team also placed numerous “Easter eggs” on the set, which Sherlock Holmes aficionados will recognize from the stories of Conan Doyle, including lemon juice that Holmes uses for secret writing, a glass-covered diorama of bee hives, and an area for Holmes’s phrenology studies, another popular area of interest among the educated classes during this period. “There are so many Doyle-isms in this film,” says Robert Downey Jr. “We’ve infused the film quite a lot with them, not just in the set design, but also in the script.”

Watson’s office, also housed in Baker Street and constructed on the stage, was far more ordered than Holmes’s, with the doctor’s diplomas lining the wall, along with patrician paintings, candlesticks in the shape of swords, and medical accoutrements all neatly displayed.

The sets built on the stage were not all interiors. By far the largest set was the setting for the climactic fight sequence in the film: Tower Bridge. Now an iconic symbol of London, Tower Bridge took its name and the design of its twin 200-foot towers from the Tower of London, which is situated at the northern end of the eight-hundred foot-long bridge. In 1890, Tower Bridge was only half-built, its steel frame and walkways still open to the elements, creating a visually fascinating and unpredictable setting for the film’s final clash.

The Tower Bridge set was built against a green screen background, which the visual effects team would later fill in with huge vistas of 1890 London and the River Thames. “With modern-day technology, we were able to really recreate London as a character,” says Wigram. “It will feel like a real place. We had an incredible team, and we hopefully built a period London that we’ve never seen before on film.”

“Guy knows London very well and that means he isn’t too reverential about it,” Mark Strong asserts. “Even though the film has a very specific time and place, Guy brought his own vision of the city, which gives it an incredible energy. I think it’s a stroke of genius bringing together Sherlock Holmes and Guy Ritchie. Guy brought something so new and dynamic to the mix.”

The final design element was the music of Hans Zimmer to accompany and enhance the drama, playfulness, action and intrigue. “It was such a joy to work with Guy to capture the different tones of the worlds Holmes and Watson navigate, ranging from the halls of Parliament to a bare-knuckle boxing ring to the shadowy crypts beneath a cathedral,” comments Zimmer, who was working with Ritchie for the first time. “This story has so many textures and personalities, that it really gave us the opportunity to create a diverse language of music for the film.”

Ritchie offers, “Hans and I are very much on the same page about taking a fresh approach to the music. The music has taken on its own identity and become a significant part of the creative process in giving ‘Sherlock Holmes’ a contemporary feel.”

Silver concludes, “We set out to make a movie that would resonate with fans of Holmes and bring the Holmes style of adventure to a whole new generation. And I think everyone delivered magnificently. It’s a fantastic, wild ride.”

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ABOUT THE CAST

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. (Sherlock Holmes) is one of today’s most respected actors. He recently earned his second Academy Award® nomination, for Best Supporting Actor, for his work in Ben Stiller’s comedy hit “Tropic Thunder.” His performance as Kirk Lazarus, a white Australian actor playing a black American character, also brought him Golden Globe, BAFTA Award and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® nominations. Downey was honored with his first Oscar® nomination, in the category of Best Actor, for his portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in Richard Attenborough’s acclaimed 1992 biopic “Chaplin,” for which he also won BAFTA and London Film Critics Awards and received a Golden Globe Award nomination.

In Summer 2008, Downey received praise from critics and audiences for his performance in the title role of the blockbuster hit “Iron Man,” under the direction of Jon Favreau. Bringing the Marvel Comics superhero to the big screen, “Iron Man” earned more than $585 million worldwide, making it one of the year’s biggest hits. Downey reprises his role in the sequel, due out in Summer 2010.

Downey’s other recent films include “The Soloist,” opposite Jamie Foxx; “Charlie Bartlett”; David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo; Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly,” with Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Woody Harrelson; “Fur,” opposite Nicole Kidman in a film inspired by the life of revered photographer Diane Arbus; and “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.”

He also shared in a SAG Award® nomination as a member of the ensemble cast of George Clooney’s true-life drama “Good Night, and Good Luck,” and in a Special Jury Prize won by the ensemble cast of “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints,” presented at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

Downey’s long list of film credits also includes “Gothika,” with Halle Berry; “The Singing Detective”; Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys,” with Michael Douglas; “U.S. Marshals”; “The Gingerbread Man,” directed by Robert Altman; “Two Girls and a Guy”; Mike Figgis’s “One Night Stand”; Jodie Foster’s “Home for the Holidays”; “Richard III”; “Natural Born Killers,” directed by Oliver Stone; and Altman’s “Short Cuts,” as part of an outstanding ensemble cast that won a special Golden Globe Award for Best Ensemble.

Earlier in his career, Downey starred in such films as “Heart and Souls,” “Soapdish,” “Air America,” “Chances Are,” “True Believer,” “Johnny Be Good,” “Less Than Zero,” “The Pick-up Artist,” “Back to School,” “Weird Science,” “Firstborn,” and “Pound,” in which he made his debut under the direction of Robert Downey Sr.

On the small screen, Downey made his primetime debut in 2001 when he joined the cast of the Fox-TV series “Ally McBeal,” playing the role of attorney Larry Paul. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as the Screen Actors Guild Award® for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. In addition, Downey was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

On November 23, 2004, Robert Downey Jr. released his debut album, “The Futurist,” on the Sony Classics label. The album, containing eight original songs, showcased his singing talents.

JUDE LAW (Dr. John Watson) is considered one of Britain’s finest actors, with a wealth and variety of film and theatre performances to his credit. He most recently returned to the stage to star in the title role of the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” first in London’s West End and then reprising the role on Broadway.

On the big screen, Law first drew major critical attention for his performance as Oscar Wilde’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, in 1997’s “Wilde,” for which he won an Evening Standard British Film Award. He went on to earn international acclaim for his work in Anthony Minghella’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Law’s performance as doomed golden boy Dickie Greenleaf brought him both Oscar® and Golden Globe nominations, as well as a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Law was later honored with Oscar®, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations, for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for his role in the 2003 Civil War epic “Cold Mountain,” also directed by Minghella. He also earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Steven Spielberg’s “AI: Artificial Intelligence.”

In 2004, Law starred in five very different films, including two for which he shared acting ensemble honors: Mike Nichols’ acclaimed drama “Closer,” also starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman, with whom he won the National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble; and Martin Scorsese’s epic biopic “The Aviator,” for which he shared in a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination for Outstanding Cast Performance. That same year, Law starred in “Alfie,” playing the title role under the direction of Charles Shyer; David O. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees”; and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” which he also produced. In addition, he lent his voice to “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

His wide range of film credits also includes Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus”; Kenneth Branagh’s “Sleuth,” which he also produced; Wong Kar Wai’s first English-language film, “My Blueberry Nights”; Nancy Meyers’ romantic comedy hit “The Holiday,” with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black; “Breaking and Entering,” which reunited him with Anthony Minghella; Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition,” with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman; Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Enemy at the Gates”; David Cronenberg’s “eXistenZ”; Clint Eastwood’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”; and “Gattaca,” which marked his American film debut.

Law began his career on the stage, acting with the National Youth Theatre at the age of 12. In 1994, he created the role of Michael in Jean Cocteau’s play “Les Parents Terribles,” for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for Outstanding Newcomer. The play was renamed “Indiscretions” when it moved to Broadway, where Law received a Tony Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. His subsequent stage work includes “`Tis Pity She’s a Whore” at London’s Young Vic Theatre and a highly acclaimed performance in the title role of Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus,” both directed by David Lan. Law was recently closely involved in the fundraising efforts for the major refurbishment of the Young Vic Theatre.

In 2007, the French Academy awarded Jude Law a César d’Honneur in recognition of his contribution to cinema, and the government of France named him a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his artistic achievements.

RACHEL McADAMS (Irene Adler) will next be seen in the romantic comedy “Morning Glory,” in which she stars with Harrison Ford, Patrick Wilson and Diane Keaton under the direction of Roger Michell. The film is slated to open in Summer 2010.

A native of Canada, McAdams first captured the attention of Hollywood when she landed the starring role in the 2002 comedy “The Hot Chick.” She then starred in two very different back-to-back hits: the acclaimed comedy “Mean Girls,” directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay by Tina Fey and also starring Lindsay Lohan; and Nick Cassavetes’ romantic drama “The Notebook,” opposite Ryan Gosling.

In summer 2005, McAdams starred with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the smash hit comedy “Wedding Crashers.” Later that year, she starred in Wes Craven’s thriller “Red Eye,” alongside Cillian Murphy, and joined the ensemble cast of the holiday drama “The Family Stone,” with Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Claire Danes. McAdams was named Supporting Actress of the Year at the 2005 ShoWest Convention, and received the Hollywood Breakthrough Award at the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival.

McAdams then starred with Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson in Ira Sachs’ independent, 1940s-set drama “Married Life,” which premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival, and in the 2008 indie release “The Lucky Ones,” opposite Tim Robbins. Earlier this year, she starred in Kevin Macdonald’s thriller “State of Play,” with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren, and the romantic drama “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” opposite Eric Bana.

McAdams was recently named the Female Star of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners at the 2009 ShoWest Convention.

MARK STRONG (Lord Blackwood) previously worked with Guy Ritchie as a member of the ensemble cast of the crime comedy “RocknRolla.” Strong’s recent credits also include “The Young Victoria,” opposite Emily Blunt; Pete Travis’s Apartheid drama “Endgame”; “Good,” with Viggo Mortensen; and Ridley Scott’s espionage thriller “Body of Lies,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Strong has also completed work on several upcoming films, including Peter Weir’s fact-based drama “The Way Back,” with Colin Farrell; Matthew Vaughn’s action comedy “Kick-Ass,” based on Mark Millar’s popular comic book; Kevin Macdonald’s Roman epic “The Eagle of the Ninth”; and “Robin Hood,” which reunited him with Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe.

His previous film credits include “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”; Matthew Vaughn’s “Stardust”; Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine”; Kevin Reynolds’ “Tristan & Isolde”; Stephen Gaghan’s “Syriana”; Roman Polanski’s “Oliver Twist”; Guy Ritchie’s “Revolver”; “It’s All About Love”; “Heartlands”; the British film “Fever Pitch”; and “Captives.”

Born in London, Strong first pursued a law degree in Germany before returning home to study English and Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London. He then attended the Bristol Old Vic, which led to an eight-year apprenticeship on the English stage. Dividing his early years between the theatre and television, his first big break came when he won the role of Tosker Cox in the 1994 BBC2 miniseries “Our Friends in the North.”

Strong has since become a familiar face on British television, earning a BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in the 2004 BBC2 telefilm “The Long Firm.” He also appeared as then-Inspector Larry Hall in ITV’s “Prime Suspect 3” in 1993 and, ten years later, reprised the role of Detective Chief Superintendent Larry Hall in “Prime Suspect 6.” His many television credits include “Sharpe’s Mission”; ITV’s presentation of Jane Austen’s “Emma”; the BBC telefilms “Trust” and “Fields of Gold”; Channel 4’s “Falling Apart”; the PBS miniseries “Anna Karenina”; “Low Winter Sun”; and the Pete Travis-directed projects “The Jury” and “Henry VIII.”

An accomplished stage actor, Strong has appeared in London’s West End in such plays as Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”; the debut of Patrick Marber’s “Closer”; Kevin Spacey’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh”; David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow”; and the Sam Mendes-directed productions of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” earning an Olivier nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the latter. His stage work also includes “The Treatment” and “The Thickness of Skin” at the Royal Court Theatre; and the Royal National Theatre productions of “Richard III,” “King Lear,” “Napoli Milionaria,” “Fuente Ovejuna,” “Murmuring Judges,” and “Johnny on a Spot,” as well as numerous repertory theatre productions.

EDDIE MARSAN (Inspector Lestrade) has been seen in a wide variety of films, from blockbuster hits to quirky independents. He has also been honored for his collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leigh. His performance in Leigh’s 2004 drama “Vera Drake” brought Marsan his first British Independent Film Award, for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a nomination for a London Film Critics Circle Award. Marsan more recently won a British Independent Film Award, a London Film Critics Circle Award, and a National Society of Film Critics Award, for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as the troubled driving teacher in Leigh’s slice-of-life comedy “Happy-Go-Lucky.”

Most recently, Marsan co-starred alongside Zac Efron and Claire Danes in Richard Linklater’s drama “Me and Orson Welles,” in which he portrays John Houseman, the American actor and producer who ran the Mercury Theatre with Welles in the late 1930s. He also stars in “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” which premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival. Marsan’s other film credits include “Hancock,” “Miami Vice,” “The Illusionist,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “V for Vendetta,” “21 Grams,” and Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” to name only a few. Among Marsan’s forthcoming features are “London Boulevard” and “Moby Dick,” which he is currently filming.

For television, Marsan’s extensive credits include the award-winning BBC miniseries “Criminal Justice” and “Little Dorrit,” and the BBC2/PBS drama “God on Trial,” in which he played a traumatized father imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. He also stars in the upcoming BBC telefilm “Dive.”

Born and raised in Bethnal Green, East London, Marsan served an apprenticeship as a printer before beginning his acting career. He later attended the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the Academy of the Science of Acting & Directing.

KELLY REILLY (Mary Morstan) was previously honored for her performance in Stephen Frears’ acclaimed 2005 feature “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” winning both London Film Critics Circle and Empire Awards for Best Newcomer, and also receiving a British Independent Film Award nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress. She received another British Independent Film Award nomination, for Best Actress, for her work in 2008’s “Eden Lake.” She also starred in the internationally successful French film “L’Auberge Espagnole” and its sequel, “Les Poupées Russes,” for which she was nominated for a César Award.

Reilly was most recently seen in the independent feature “Me and Orson Welles,” and the thriller “Triage,” which has screened at several 2009 international film festivals, including Toronto and Rome. Her additional film credits include “Last Orders,” “The Libertine” and “Pride & Prejudice.”

On the stage, Reilly became the youngest-ever Olivier Award nominee in the category of Best Actress when she was nominated in 2004 for her performance in “After Miss Julie,” presented at London’s Donmar Warehouse Theatre. In 2008, she received another Olivier Award nomination in the same category for the role of Desdemona in the Donmar Warehouse production of “Othello.”

Reilly has also appeared on the small screen, recently including the starring role of Detective Anna Travis in the 2009 television movie “Above Suspicion.” She reprises her role in the ITV telefilm “Above Suspicion 2: The Red Dahlia,” to air in 2010.

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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

GUY RITCHIE (Director) most recently wrote, directed and produced the crime comedy “RocknRolla,” featuring an international ensemble cast, including Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival before opening in the UK at the top of the box office. “RocknRolla” went on to win the Empire Award for Best British Film.

Born in London, Ritchie started in the UK film industry in 1993 as a runner on Wardour Street. He worked his way up the ranks to directing music videos and commercials before writing and directing his first short film, “The Hard Case,” in 1995.

Ritchie made his writing and directing feature film debut with “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.” Made on a modest budget of $1 million, the film became one of the UK’s biggest box office hits and made its U.S. premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The London Film Critics Circle named Ritchie the British Screenwriter of the Year for the feature, which also received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best British Film. “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels” also went on to spawn a series of British gangster flicks and helped launch the Hollywood careers of several British actors, including Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Jason Flemyng.

Ritchie followed with the 2000 hit “Snatch,” which he wrote and directed. The film featured an ensemble cast, including Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina, Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Alan Ford, Lennie James and Benicio Del Toro. In addition to being a box office success, “Snatch” also brought Ritchie an Empire Award for Best British Director, firmly establishing him as a new visionary in the film industry.

Following “Snatch,” Ritchie co-wrote and directed “Swept Away,” a remake of the 1974 Italian classic “Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto.” The romantic comedy starred Madonna, Adrianno Giannini, Bruce Greenwood, Elizabeth Banks and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Ritchie continued to explore new challenges with “Revolver,” which premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. An edgy crime thriller, the film starred Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore and Outkast’s Andre Benjamin and was later released in the U.S. in December 2007.

In addition to Ritchie’s feature film work, he has helmed a number of acclaimed shorts. He directed “Star,” a short film featured in Series 1 of the popular BMW series “The Hire.” He also collaborated with Nike to create the short “Take It to the Next Level,” which follows the rise of an up-and-coming Dutch footballer and featured some of the industry’s best players. The project brought Ritchie a Golden Lion at the 2008 Cannes International Advertising Festival.

Ritchie has several other projects currently in development that he is writing and directing, including an untitled animated film and the epic “The Siege of Malta.” He has also created a comic book series with Virgin Comics, “Gamekeeper,” which has been optioned to be made into a feature film, which will be produced by Joel Silver.

MICHAEL ROBERT JOHNSON (Screenwriter/Story) counts “Sherlock Holmes” as his first screenplay credit.

Johnson began making short films as a teenager on his mother’s Super 8 camera in the early 1980s and went on to attend the London Film School in the late 1990s. He spent subsequent years working as a focus puller/camera assistant, including, coincidentally, on the post-production pickups for Guy Ritchie’s film “Swept Away.”

Johnson continued to write scripts during this period, primarily in collaboration with writer/director Duncan Jones. They most recently collaborated on the screenplay for the upcoming feature project “Mute.”

ANTHONY PECKHAM (Screenwriter) most recently wrote the screenplay for the true-life drama “Invictus,” directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

Currently, he is writing the screenplay for the undersea adventure thriller “Deep Sea Cowboys” for producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. His upcoming film work includes the screenplays for “The Tourist,” based on the book by Olen Steinhauer and being produced by George Clooney, and “The Limit,” based on the Michael Cannell book and starring Tobey Maguire.

Peckham counts among his previous credits the feature thriller “Don’t Say a Word,” starring Michael Douglas, and the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries “5ive Days to Midnight,” with Timothy Hutton and Randy Quaid.

Peckham grew up in South Africa, and went on to earn a degree in Political Science, Classical History and English at the University of Cape Town. He added an Honors Degree in English Literature, studying the works of Raymond Chandler under Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee. In response to apartheid and influenced by Chandler, Peckham left South Africa to study filmmaking in California at San Francisco State University, where he earned an M.A. in Film.

SIMON KINBERG (Screenwriter) most recently co-wrote and produced last year’s hit sci-fi thriller “Jumper,” directed by Doug Liman. Kinberg also co-wrote “X-Men: The Last Stand,” which had a record-breaking opening over the 2006 Memorial Day weekend. He previously wrote Lee Tamahori’s “xXx: State of the Union” and Liman’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

Born in London and raised in Los Angeles, Kinberg studied film and literature at Brown University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Magma Cum Laude in 1995. He went on to graduate from Columbia University’s film school, where he received the school’s highest screenwriting award, the Zaki Gordon Fellowship. While still in film school, he sold original pitches and wrote scripts for several studios, working with such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Jonathan Mostow, Stephen Sommers and McG.

His final thesis project for film school was the original screenplay “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” He pitched the concept to award-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who became both the project’s producer and Kinberg’s mentor. The film went into production in 2004, with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starring under the direction of Doug Liman. Released in Summer 2005, the film ultimately grossed more than $475 million worldwide, making it one of the year’s biggest hits.

In 2005, Kinberg was named New Power Screenwriter of the Year by Premiere Magazine and given Movieline’s Breakthrough Award for Screenwriting.

Kinberg currently has several feature projects in development as a writer and producer. He also has a production deal with Jerry Bruckheimer and Warner Bros. Television.

LIONEL WIGRAM (Story/Producer) started his production company, Wigram Productions, in 2006 with a deal at Warner Bros. Since then, he has served as executive producer on the international blockbusters “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and is an executive producer on the much-anticipated two-part film adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” Wigram is currently working on a number of different film projects, also including the animated adventure “Guardians of Ga’Hoole,” being directed by Zack Snyder and slated for release in September 2010. He was previously an executive producer on the drama “August Rush,” starring Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Freddie Highmore, Robin Williams and Terrence Howard.

Wigram was educated at Oxford University, where he was one of the founding members of the Oxford Film Foundation. He started working in the film business while still at Oxford, serving as a production assistant for producer Elliott Kastner during summer holidays. Following graduation, he went to work for Kastner in California. Wigram produced his first film, “Never on Tuesday,” in 1987, followed by “Cool Blue,” starring Woody Harrelson, and “Warm Summer Rain,” starring Kelly Lynch, in 1988. In the same period, Wigram was involved in the development of the early drafts of what would become “Carlito’s Way.”

In 1990, Wigram became a development executive at Alive Films, where he worked on films by Wes Craven and Sam Shepard. He also produced “Cool as Ice,” and was an executive producer on Steven Soderbergh’s “The Underneath.” In 1993, he started a chef management company, Alive Culinary Resources, with Alive owner Shep Gordon. In addition to managing most of the top chefs in the U.S., they produced a cooking video series for Time Life, which featured Emeril Lagasse for the first time.

In 1994, Wigram joined Renny Harlin and Geena Davis’s company, The Forge, where he headed up development. Some of the projects on which he worked include “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “Cutthroat Island” and the HBO film “Mistrial.”

Before his producing deal, Wigram was Senior Vice President of Production at Warner Bros for 10 years. During his tenure, he was responsible for buying the Harry Potter book series for the studio and subsequently overseeing the hugely successful film franchise. In addition, he supervised such projects as “The Avengers,” “The Big Tease,” “Charlotte Gray,” “Three Kings” and “The Good German.”

JOEL SILVER (Producer), one of the most prolific and successful producers in the history of motion pictures, has produced over 50 films, including the groundbreaking “The Matrix” trilogy, the blockbuster four-part “Lethal Weapon” franchise, and the seminal action films “Die Hard” and “Predator.” To date, Silver’s catalog of films have earned more than $10 billion in worldwide revenue from all sources.

Under his Silver Pictures banner, Silver recently produced the upcoming action adventure “The Book of Eli,” starring Denzel Washington under the direction of Albert and Allen Hughes and due out January 2010.

Silver structured a deal for his Dark Castle Entertainment production company that gives him green-lighting power and creative control of all films produced under the banner, to be distributed by Warner Bros. Silver produced Dark Castle’s latest release, the actioner “Ninja Assassin,” directed by James McTeigue and starring Rain. Dark Castle also has a number of films upcoming, including the actioner “The Losers,” based on the DC Comics graphic novels, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Chris Evans and Jason Patric; the thriller “Unknown White Male,” starring Liam Neeson, January Jones and Diane Kruger; and the psychological thriller “The Factory,” starring John Cusack.

Dark Castle previously produced a string of hit films beginning with the record-breaking 1999 opening of “House on Haunted Hill,” followed by “Thir13en Ghosts” in 2001, “Ghost Ship” in 2002, “Gothika” in 2003 and “House of Wax” in 2005. Dark Castle more recently released Guy Ritchie’s critically acclaimed actioner “RocknRolla,” with an ensemble cast led by Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton and Mark Strong, and the horror thriller “Orphan,” starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard.

Previously, Silver’s 1999 production “The Matrix” grossed over $456 million globally, earning more than any other Warner Bros. Pictures film in the studio’s history at the time of its release. Universally acclaimed for its innovative storytelling and visuals, “The Matrix” won four Academy Awards®, including Best Visual Effects. The first DVD release to sell one million units, “The Matrix” DVD was instrumental in powering the initial sale of consumer DVD machines. The second installment of the epic “Matrix” trilogy, “The Matrix Reloaded,” earned over $739 million at the worldwide box office. The opening weekend box office receipts for “The Matrix Revolutions,” the final chapter in the explosive trilogy, totaled a staggering $203 million worldwide. To date, “The Matrix” franchise has grossed $3 billion from all sources worldwide.

While overseeing production on “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” Silver produced the integral video game “Enter the Matrix,” which features one hour of additional film footage written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Anthony Wong, who reprised their roles from the films. He also executive produced “The Animatrix,” a groundbreaking collection of nine short anime films inspired by the visionary action and storytelling that power “The Matrix.”

Silver later produced the action thriller “V for Vendetta,” based on the acclaimed graphic novel and starring Natalie Portman; the action comedy thriller “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” written and directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan; and the Wachowski brothers’ “Speed Racer.” He also produced the hit films “Romeo Must Die,” starring Jet Li and Aaliyah; “Exit Wounds,” starring Steven Seagal and DMX; and “Swordfish,” starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.

A successful television producer as well, Silver executive produced the CBS series “Moonlight,” a romantic thriller with a twist on the vampire legend, which won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama in its debut year. He was previously an executive producer on the critically acclaimed UPN television series “Veronica Mars,” starring Kristen Bell. Silver also executive produced, with Richard Donner, David Giler, Walter Hill and Robert Zemeckis, eight seasons of the award-winning HBO series “Tales from the Crypt,” as well as two “Tales from the Crypt” films.

Silver began his career as an associate producer on “The Warriors,” and then produced “48 HRS.,” “Streets of Fire” and “Brewster’s Millions.”

In 1985, Silver launched his Silver Pictures production banner with the breakout hit “Commando,” followed by “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Predator.” Silver Pictures solidified its status as one of the industry’s leading production companies with the release of the “Lethal Weapon” series and the action blockbusters “Die Hard” and “Die Hard 2: Die Harder.” Silver also went on to produce “The Last Boy Scout,” “Demolition Man,” “Richie Rich,” “Executive Decision” and “Conspiracy Theory.”

Long before starting his producing career, as a student at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1967, Silver and a group of his friends developed a game called Ultimate Frisbee. The fast-moving team sport has since become a global phenomenon supported by tournaments in 50 countries.

SUSAN DOWNEY (Producer) is a prolific film producer who has collaborated with some of the industry’s most noted talents from both sides of the camera. Her long list of credits includes films ranging from action blockbusters to dramas to comedies to horror thrillers.

Downey has recently produced several different features to be released in 2010, beginning with the action drama “The Book of Eli,” starring Denzel Washington under the direction of the Hughes brothers, set to open on January 15. She is also an executive producer on “Iron Man 2,” the sequel to the blockbuster action hit “Iron Man.” Slated for release in May 2010, the film reunites director Jon Favreau with Robert Downey Jr., who is returning in the title role, and Gwyneth Paltrow as the central character’s devoted assistant. Joining the cast are Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson. Downey also produced the upcoming horror thriller “The Factory,” directed by Morgan O’Neill and starring John Cusack.

Currently, Downey is serving as an executive producer on “Due Date,” a new comedy from director Todd Phillips, starring Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis and Michelle Monaghan. The film is planned for Fall 2010.

Downey previously held the dual posts of Co-President of Dark Castle Entertainment and Executive Vice President of Production at Silver Pictures. Joining Silver Pictures in 1999, she oversaw the development and production of feature films released under both banners, including “Thir13en Ghosts” and “Swordfish.”

In 2002, she made her producing debut as a co-producer on “Ghost Ship” and then co-produced the 2003 release “Cradle 2 the Grave.” Downey went on to produce the features “Gothika” and “House of Wax,” and also served as an executive producer on the critically acclaimed comedic thriller “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.”

Downey later produced Neil Jordan’s acclaimed psychological drama “The Brave One,” starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard, and Guy Ritchie’s widely praised crime comedy “RocknRolla,” starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Jeremy Piven, and the horror thriller “Orphan,” starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard.

Prior to her tenure at Dark Castle and Silver Pictures, Downey worked on the hit films “Mortal Kombat” and “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.”

Downey is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.

DAN LIN (Producer) is the CEO of Lin Pictures, a production company based at Warner Bros., where it has an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Lin most recently produced the thriller “The Box,” starring Cameron Diaz, and Ricky Gervais’s comedy “The Invention of Lying,” starring Gervais and Jennifer Garner. Lin also served as an executive producer on Robert Rodriguez’s family film “Shorts” and the action thriller “Terminator Salvation,” starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington.

He currently has a number of projects in development, including “Justice League,” “The Gangster Squad,” “The Lego Movie,” “Suicide Squad” and “Tom & Jerry.”

Prior to forming Lin Pictures, in January 2008, Lin served as Senior Vice President of Production for Warner Bros. Pictures. During his eight-year tenure at the studio, from 1999 to 2007, he oversaw the development and production of such films as Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award®-winning drama “The Departed”; “10,000 BC,” directed by Roland Emmerich; “The Aviator,” directed by Scorsese; “TMNT”; “The Invasion”; “Unaccompanied Minors”; “Alexander”; “Scooby-Doo 2”; and “Torque.”

In September 2008, Lin was named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch.” He had been profiled on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Generation List” in 2005.

Lin received his undergraduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania before earning his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1999.

MICHAEL TADROSS (Executive Producer) served as an executive producer on two Will Smith hits: the sci-fi action thriller “I Am Legend” and the comedy “Hitch.”

Tadross has also produced or executive produced a wide range of motion pictures, recently including “Basic,” starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson; “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding”; and “Rollerball,” with Chris Klein, LL Cool J and Jean Reno. His additional producing credits include “The Thomas Crown Affair,” starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo; “Jack Frost,” with Michael Keaton; “The Devil’s Advocate,” starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves; and “Eraser,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vanessa Williams. His first film credit as a producer was “Die Hard: With a Vengeance,” starring Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson, which was the top-grossing film of 1995.

For television, Tadross produced the telefilms “When Will I Be Loved?,” starring Stephanie Powers, and “Deadly Illusions,” starring Billy Dee Williams.

Tadross served as Senior Vice President of Feature Production at Paramount Pictures from 1992 to 1994. During this time, he oversaw such films as “Forrest Gump,” “The Naked Gun,” “The Firm,” “Clear and Present Danger,” the “Wayne’s World” franchise, “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” “Beverly Hills Cop III,” “Coneheads” and “Sliver.”

Tadross was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Wagner College, and was an award-winning photojournalist before starting his film career as a camera trainee and assistant film editor. He went on to work as a unit production manager on such films as “Coming to America”; “Black Rain”; “Ghost”; “School Ties,” on which he was also an associate producer; and “Indecent Proposal,” which he also co-produced. His early film work also includes serving as a first assistant director on the films “Masquerade” and “Cocktail.”

BRUCE BERMAN (Executive Producer) is Chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures. The company has a successful joint partnership with Warner Bros. Pictures to co-produce a wide range of motion pictures, with all films distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

The initial slate of films produced under the pact included such hits as “Practical Magic,” starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman; “Analyze This,” teaming Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal; “The Matrix,” starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne; “Three Kings,” starring George Clooney; “Space Cowboys,” directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; and “Miss Congeniality,” starring Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt.

Under the Village Roadshow Pictures banner, Berman has subsequently executive produced such wide-ranging successes as “Training Day,” for which Denzel Washington won an Oscar®; the “Ocean’s” trilogy; “Two Weeks’ Notice,” pairing Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant; Eastwood’s “Mystic River,” starring Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in Oscar®-winning performances; “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions”; Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starring Johnny Depp; the Oscar®-winning animated adventure “Happy Feet”; the blockbuster “I Am Legend,” starring Will Smith; the hit comedy “Get Smart,” teaming Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway; the comedy “Yes Man,” starring Jim Carrey; the acclaimed drama “Gran Torino,” directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; and “Where the Wild Things Are,” the screen adaptation of the beloved book, directed by Spike Jonze.

Village Roadshow’s upcoming film projects include “Sex and the City 2” and Zack Snyder’s animated adventure “Guardians of Ga’Hoole.”

Berman got his start in the motion picture business working with Jack Valenti at the MPAA while attending Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC. After earning his law degree, he landed a job at Casablanca Films in 1978. Moving to Universal, he worked his way up to production Vice President in 1982.

In 1984, Berman joined Warner Bros. as a production Vice President, and was promoted to Senior Vice President of Production four years later. He was appointed President of Theatrical Production in September 1989, and in 1991 was named President of Worldwide Theatrical Production, where he served through May 1996. Under his aegis, Warner Bros. Pictures produced and distributed such films as “Presumed Innocent,” “GoodFellas,” “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” the Oscar®-winning Best Picture “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Batman Forever,” “Under Siege,” “Malcolm X,” “The Bodyguard,” “JFK,” “The Fugitive,” “Dave,” “Disclosure,” “The Pelican Brief,” “Outbreak,” “The Client,” “A Time to Kill” and “Twister.”

In May of 1996, Berman started Plan B Entertainment, an independent motion picture company at Warner Bros. Pictures. He was named Chairman and CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures in February 1998.

STEVE CLARK-HALL (Co-Producer) counts “Sherlock Holmes” as his third collaboration with Guy Ritchie, having previously been a producer on the director’s “RocknRolla” and “Revolver.”

Clark-Hall began his career at the BBC, leaving in 1972 to set up his own production company, Skyline Films. One of the early suppliers of programming to Channel 4 television, Skyline produced over 300 hours of television programs before moving into feature film production in the early 1990s.

Clark-Hall more recently produced the independent films “Lesbian Vampire Killers”; “Separate Lies,” directed by Julian Fellowes and starring Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett; Kenneth Branagh’s “The Magic Flute”; “Love and Other Disasters,” starring Orlando Bloom, Gwyneth Paltrow and Brittany Murphy; and “Body Armour,” starring Chazz Palminteri. In addition, Clark-Hall produced the Channel 4 telefilm “Britz,” directed by Peter Kosminsky, which won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama.

Clark-Hall also co-produced “Man to Man,” starring Joseph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas; and the true story “Calendar Girls,” starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. His additional film producing credits include “Saving Grace,” starring Brenda Blethyn; William Boyd’s “The Trench,” starring Daniel Craig; “Still Crazy,” starring Stephen Rea and Bill Nighy, which earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture – Comedy or Musical; Alan Rickman’s “The Winter Guest,” starring Emma Thompson; “Love and Death on Long Island,” starring John Hurt; Gillies Mackinnon’s “Small Faces”; and Derek Jarman’s “Edward II.”

PHILIPPE ROUSSELOT (Director of Photography) won an Academy Award® in 1993 for his cinematography on Robert Redford’s “A River Runs Through It.” He had previously been Oscar®-nominated for his work on Philip Kaufman’s “Henry & June” and John Boorman’s “Hope and Glory,” also receiving a BAFTA Award nomination for the latter.

In his native France, Rousselot won a César Award for the films “Queen Margot” (“La Reine Margot”) and “Diva.” He also won a BAFTA Award for his work on Neil Jordan’s “Interview with the Vampire,” one of four collaborations with the director, also including “The Brave One,” “The Miracle” and “We’re No Angels.”

Rousselot’s international honors for cinematography also include César and BAFTA Award nominations for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “The Bear”; BAFTA Award nominations for Stephen Frears’ “Dangerous Liaisons” and Boorman’s “The Emerald Forest”; and César Award nods for Bertrand Blier’s “Too Beautiful for You,” Alain Cavalier’s “Teresa” and Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “The Moon in the Gutter.”

Rousselot has lensed three films for director Tim Burton: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Big Fish” and “Planet of the Apes.” His many collaborations with other directors include Denzel Washington’s “The Great Debaters” and “Antwone Fisher”; Robert Redford’s “Lions for Lambs”; Francis Lawrence’s “Constantine”; John Boorman’s “The Tailor of Panama”; Boaz Yakin’s “Remember the Titans”; Sydney Pollack’s “Random Hearts”; Jon Turteltaub’s “Instinct”; Milos Forman’s “The People vs. Larry Flynt”; Stephen Frears’ “Mary Reilly”; Jon Amiel’s “Sommersby”; and Bertrand Blier’s “Merci La Vie,” to name only a portion.

Apart from his work as a cinematographer, Rousselot made his feature film directorial debut on the film “The Serpent’s Kiss,” which was nominated for a Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.

SARAH GREENWOOD (Production Designer) is a two-time Academy Award®-nominated production designer, earning both nods for her work with director Joe Wright on his acclaimed period films “Pride & Prejudice” and “Atonement.” For “Atonement,” she also won BAFTA and Evening Standard British Film Awards and also received an Art Directors Guild Award nomination. She was honored at the 2008 Hollywood Film Festival as Production Designer of the Year.

More recently, Greenwood reunited with Wright on the drama “The Soloist,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. Her feature credits also include “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” “Starter for 10,” “Born Romantic,” “This Year’s Love,” “The Governess” and “A Merry War,” which marked her film debut.

For television, Greenwood’s extensive credits include three additional collaborations with filmmaker Joe Wright: the miniseries “Nature Boy,” “Bodily Harm” and “The Last King,” for which she received a BAFTA TV Award nomination. Greenwood earlier won a Royal Television Society Award and received a BAFTA TV Award nomination for her production design work on the BBC miniseries “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”

Born in England, Greenwood graduated with a BA from the Wimbledon School of Art, and began her career designing for the stage. She went on to work at the BBC, doing design work for a number of television series, as well as commercials.

JAMES HERBERT (Editor) has worked with director Guy Ritchie on a variety of projects, most recently including the film “RocknRolla.” Their previous collaborations include the feature “Revolver,” the documentary “The Ego Has Landed” and the ABC television pilot “Suspects.”

Earlier this year, Herbert served as the editor on the independent features “Echelon Conspiracy” and “Lesbian Vampire Killers.” His additional film credits include the remake of the 1974 cult classic horror film “It’s Alive,” the thriller “Devil’s Harvest,” the comedy “Dirty Sanchez: The Movie,” and Paul Verhoeven’s internationally acclaimed WWII drama “Black Book.”

As an assistant editor, Herbert’s credits include “Sahara,” starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz; Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy,” starring Brad Pitt; “Peter Pan,” directed by P.J. Hogan; Jan de Bont’s “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” starring Angelina Jolie; the James Bond film “Die Another Day”; and Tony Scott’s “Spy Game,” starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.

JENNY BEAVAN (Costume Designer) won an Academy Award® and a BAFTA Award for her work on James Ivory’s “A Room with a View.” Frequently lauded for her work in collaboration with the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team, she also earned Oscar® and BAFTA Award nominations for her period costume designs for the films “Howards End” and “The Bostonians”; and was Oscar®-nominated for “The Remains of the Day” and “Maurice.”

Beavan has also been honored with an Oscar® nomination and a BAFTA Award for her work on Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park”; Oscar® and BAFTA Award nominations for Ang Lee’s “Sense and Sensibility”; an Oscar® nomination for Andy Tennant’s “Anna and the King”; and a BAFTA Award nomination for Franco Zeferelli’s “Tea with Mussolini.”

Her numerous film credits also include “Defiance,” directed by Edward Zwick; Michael Apted’s “Amazing Grace”; Brian De Palma’s “The Black Dahlia”; “Casanova,” for director Lasse Hallström; “Alexander,” directed by Oliver Stone; Richard Donner’s “Timeline”; Neil LaBute’s “Possession”; Tennant’s “Ever After”; Zeferelli’s “Jane Eyre”; and the Merchant Ivory films “Jefferson in Paris” and “Jane Austen in Manhattan.”

For television, Beavan has designed the costumes for a broad range of longform projects, winning an Emmy Award for the A&E romantic comedy “Emma.” She also garnered Emmy and BAFTA TV Award nominations for her work on the BBC miniseries “Cranford” and the HBO telefilm “The Gathering Storm,” and received an Emmy nomination for “Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten – The Last Viceroy.”

For the stage, Beavan’s credits include the 2002 Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s “Private Lives,” for which she earned a Tony Award nomination, and the 2007 West End revival of Coward’s “Present Laughter.”

HANS ZIMMER (Composer) is one of the film industry’s most influential composers, whose career spans three decades and encompasses well over 100 films. Zimmer most recently collaborated with Heitor Pereira on the the score for the much-anticipated comedy “It’s Complicated,” directed by Nancy Meyers and starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. He is currently scoring several other upcoming films, including “How Do You Know,” for director James L. Brooks; Gore Verbinski’s animated feature “Rango”; and “Inception,” for director Christopher Nolan, with whom he previously collaborated on the blockbuster “The Dark Knight.”

In 1994, he won both an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe Award for his score to the animated blockbuster “The Lion King,” which also spawned one of the most successful soundtrack albums ever. Zimmer’s music for “The Lion King” continues to draw applause in the award-winning stage production of the musical, which earned the 1998 Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album. The musical has now been running on Broadway for more than 12 years, with productions also being staged around the world.

Zimmer has garnered six additional Academy Award® nominations for his scores for “Gladiator,” “The Thin Red Line,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “As Good as It Gets,” “The Preacher’s Wife” and “Rain Man.” In addition, he won a Golden Globe Award and earned a Grammy nomination for “Gladiator,” and has also received Golden Globe nominations for his composing work on “Frost/Nixon,” “The Da Vinci Code,” “Spanglish,” “The Last Samurai,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Prince of Egypt.”

Zimmer’s long list of film credits goes on to include “Angels & Demons,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” “The Simpsons Movie,” “The Holiday,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Batman Begins,” “Madagascar,” “Matchstick Men,” “Shark Tale,” “Black Hawk Down,” “The Ring,” “Hannibal,” “Crimson Tide,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Mission: Impossible II,” “A League of Their Own,” “Black Rain,” “Backdraft,” “True Romance” and “My Beautiful Launderette.”

In 2003, ASCAP presented Zimmer with the prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, recognizing his extraordinary body of work.

In addition to his myriad composing credits, Zimmer has served as a music producer or consultant on numerous films, most recently including the blockbuster “Iron Man,” on which he was the executive music producer.