Robert Downey Jr. snaps ‘Sherlock Holmes’

Warner Brothers has signed Robert Downey Jr. in the Guy Ritchie-directed “Sherlock Holmes”. Instead of offering a pensive, literary type to the audience, Mr. Downey Jr. is going to be bringing some brawn to Mr. Holmes’ brains.

Fresh from the success of “Iron Man” and with “Tropic Thunder” coming out in August, Downey is turning into a bit of an action stud.

You would think these industry types would go around checking each other’s production schedules, because Columbia Pictures is fast tracking their own Judd Apatow produced “Sherlock Holmes” film with Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes and Will Ferrell set as Holmes’ practical, crime-stopping buddy Dr. Watson.

Downey apparently committed to the flick after Ritchie presented him with the latest script, written by Anthony Peckham, a melding of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales and the “Sherlock Holmes” comic books. Production will start on this interpretation in October.