MovieChat Forums > Mr. Holmes (2015) Discussion > Too old for a 58 year old man

Too old for a 58 year old man

posted 8 years ago by aciago
4 replies | jump to latest

Good acting anyway, but he was too old for being that age in the flashback. They had to make a little change in the script and say that hist last case was, i don´t know, 20 years ago...

[–] TxMike 8 years ago

His 50-yr-old clone was unavailable for the shoot, is my understanding.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
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[–] sanddragon939 8 years ago

Actually, he was in his mid-sixties. Sure, Holmes mentions that the case was 35 years ago at one point, but that can be chalked up to his dementia. Early on, he clearly mentions it was just after the war (i.e. WW1) so it had to be 1918 at earliest.

Formerly sn939

[–] Nerd_in_Norway 8 years ago

In 1947 Holmes says the flashback was 30 years ago, just after the Great War (WW1). WW1 ended in November 1918, so by the look of things ("just after the Great War") one could guess it was around 1919. The fact he says "30 years" is not to be taken literally, more specifically it was probably something like 28 years ago, and considering he is 93 in 1947, that would make him about 65 or older in the flashback. If you see pictures of people back in the 1910s and 20s you'd see that they seemed to age faster than people do today, also because of the way they dressed or behaved. So it is not inconceivable having Ian McKellen (75 years old during the making of this film) portraying a man ten years his junior in 1919. Elementary!

[–] Suzume-san 8 years ago

In 'His Last Bow', the last of the Conan Doyle stories, chronologically speaking, Holmes is described as 'a tall, gaunt man of sixty'; and that is in August 1914.

http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/