Why Enola Holmes Sherlock Is So Different From Previous Versions

Why Enola Holmes’ Sherlock Is So Different From Previous Versions

Henry Cavill’s Sherlock in Enola Holmes is far kinder than previous screener versions of the character – but there’s a reason for that.

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Why Enola Holmes Sherlock Is So Different From Previous Versions

Unlike previous versions of the character, Henry Cavill’s Sherlock is portrayed as being far kinder in the upcoming Enola Holmes movie adaptation. Few literary characters have been re-adapted and re-imagined onscreen as often as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous creation has over the past century. In the 2010s alone, the iconic consulting detective was portrayed as a snarky, Victorian-era crime solver (who’s not above a bit of fisticuffs) by Robert Downey Jr. in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes movies; a prickly genius with skills of super-deduction by Benedict Cumberbatch on the BBC’s modern-set Sherlock TV series; and a recuperating addict and present-day police consultant by Johnny Lee Miller on CBS’ Elementary.

Other recent adaptations have messed around with the character’s age, as when Ian McKellen played a retired, 93-year old Sherlock whose fading memory makes it difficult for him to recall the truth about his final case in Bill Condon’s period drama Mr. Holmes. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the super-sleuth got a literally cartoony makeover when Johnny Depp voiced him as a crime-solving garden gnome in the animated sequel Sherlock Gnomes. Yet, for all the many ways Sherlock has been reinterpreted, he’s never been refashioned as a particularly nice or considerate fellow. Not until recently, anyway.

Adapted from the book series of the same name by Nancy Springer, Netflix’s upcoming Enola Holmes stars Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ younger sister, Enola, a spirited teenager who sets out to find her equally rebellious mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) when she suddenly vanishes one day. Whereas Mycroft (Sam Claflin) disapproves of Enola’s untamed manner and insists she be sent to a boarding school to learn how to become a properly-behaved lady, Cavill’s Sherlock is more inclined to defend her and praises Enola for her intelligence and independence.

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Seeing as Enola Holmes is told from Enola’s perspective (she even breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly at times during the film), it makes sense for the movie to portray Sherlock in a more empathetic light than adaptations past. While others might have a harder time looking past Sherlock’s antisocial tendencies, to Enola he’s merely her older brother and the more affectionate of her crime-solving siblings. It makes equal sense for Sherlock to be far more sympathetic to his sister’s plight than Mycroft. Never one for convention, he’s probably more than a little proud of Enola for bucking against Victorian society and what’s considered appropriate for a woman to say or do.

This gentler version of Sherlock has actually landed Springer, Netflix, and Enola Holmes production company Legendary Pictures in hot water with the Conan Doyle estate. Earlier this year, they launched a lawsuit against the concerned parties, claiming they don’t have the legal rights to portray the character this way. The argument, as they’ve presented it, is that Sherlock wasn’t depicted as having empathy or emotion until the final ten Sherlock stories published by Conan Doyle between 1923 and 1927, which they still own the rights to. So yes, as strange as it sounds, Enola Holmes is being sued for making Sherlock too nice.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/enola-holmes-movie-sherlock-nice-different-reason-rights/

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