Today's Film News: It's Elementary, Dear Will Ferrell

By Katey Rich

Two giants of comedy from either side of the pond, Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell, will reunite in an untitled comedy about Sherlock Holmes (Cohen) and his trusty sidekick Watson (Ferrell). Variety writes that Judd Apatow-- naturally-- will produce the Sony project, and Etan Cohen, who wrote this summer's likely hit Tropic Thunder, will pen the screenplay.

I like this sentence from the Hollywood Reporter item that explains how The Visitor director Tom McCarthy has come to join the cast of Roland Emmerich's next disaster movie 2012: "McCarthy, on a cross-Europe jaunt promoting the immigration-themed Visitor, joins an ensemble cast led by John Cusack that includes Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt." It makes it sound as if McCarthy just happened to stumble upon the set in Europe and say, "Hey, that looks fun!" McCarthy will play the boyfriend of Peet's character, who is Cusack's ex-wife. Now that a respected independent filmmaker is on board with this film, I think I'm allowed to look forward to it without shame.

Good news for "Lost" fans who need a fix during one of the show's long hiatuses: Josh Holloway, the show's wisecracking con man Sawyer, will take a part in Stay Cool, the comedy from directing-writing brothers Mark and Michael Polish. The Reporter writes that Holloway will play a former high school jock whom the main character, a successful author played by Mark Polish, encounters upon his return to his childhood school. Winona Ryder, Jon Cryer, Chevy Chase, Sean Astin and Hilary Duff also star, in one of the weirdest ensemble casts I can remember.

And finally, because I refuse to report on Warner Bros. acquiring yet another graphic novel for adaptation, check out this new poster for the Warner Bros. graphic novel adaptation I'm actually excited about! You would think The Dark Knight would cool its heels on the marketing front now that they've got everyone in the entire universe excited about it, but this new poster once again demonstrates how dark this movie is probably going to be. (Thanks to ComingSoon.net for the image)