Ian McKellen is to don the deerstalker and take on the iconic British detective for director Bill Condon in an adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s novel A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND.

Here’s how the story was summed up in an official press release:

In 1947, Sherlock Holmes, long retired, lives in a sleepy Sussex village with his housekeeper and her amateur-sleuthing son. But far from living out a peaceful retirement, he is haunted by an unsolved case from fifty years ago. He remembers only fragments: a confrontation with an angry husband, a secret bond with his beautiful but unstable wife.

With his legendary mental powers on the wane, and without his old sidekick Watson, Holmes is faced with the toughest case of his life – a case that might finally reveal to him the mysteries of the human heart. 

It’s a very different take on how the character’s been seen on screen before – but then again, so was Guy Ritchie’s action movie Holmes and the BBC’s contemporary Sherlock, and they’ve both impressed. Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation is one of those great characters, like James Bond and the Doctor, who have potential to be redefined and reworked in surprising, exciting ways.

Condon, who may have got the idea when working with Benedict Cumberbatch on the upcoming THE FIFTH ESTATE, has made a great choice in re-uniting with his GODS AND MONSTERS star. McKellen has the gravitas to really pull off the erudite sleuth, and to give an elderly Holmes the more introspective edge of this story. Our summation of the case: A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND is one to look out for.

Source: THR

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