Holmes, Sherlock Holmes

[katikat]

I've started reading Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet" - I had it up there with urban fantasy books, I really had to take a step back and read something else, and I have planned to read it for a long while now. And, you know, reading it, I can literally see Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Holmes and Watson, they were cast perfectly!

So, I wanted to ask - when you read stories about Holmes, and I mean books by Doyle or his followers, what do you imagine Holmes and Watson like? I mean their appearance. Do you imagine them as the actors from Sherlock (UK) or Sherlock Holmes (2009)? Or from some other movie/series? Or do you imagine them looking completely different?

Comments

[pennyplainknits.livejournal.com]

I'm maybe odd as I hear people, rather than see them, when reading books. But I read the Holmes canon before I saw any adaptations at all, so I don't have a set look for them in my head.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I usually try to imagine them as... someone. And I have seen the movies/shows first, so I guess I'll always associate the characters with their actors.

[astri13.livejournal.com]

Since my first "introduction" to Holmes were the old movies before I read anything, I tend to picture mostly Basil Rathbone.

However, the Watson of those movies never left a big impression, I couldn't name you the actor if I wanted to. Mostly, straining my memory, I vaguely recall someone smallish, sturdy and with a mustache. A bit Hercule Poirot-like so it's possible those images overlap in my mind.

Ironically, I had no problems accepting a younger, fitter Jude Law as Holmes in the movie.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any problems with Jude Law either. I think he fit this type of Watson perfectly! I think that times changed and people just want to see a different type of Watson, a real partner to Holmes.

[twilight-angel.livejournal.com]

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freman are amazing as Holmes and Watson. In fact, I actually like their H&W better than RDJ and Jude Law. But, when I read Doyle, it's Jeremy Brett and David Burke (from the Grananda series) who are my canonical H&W. Their appearances, their mannerisms, their way of speaking -- they are my canonical H&W.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

At first, I wasn't all that convinced that Cumberbatch and Freeman would fit it, but by the end of Sherlock #3, I was loving them, go figure. And when I read the book, I actually saw THEM, not Downey Jr. and Law, it really surprised me.