Sir Ian McKellen to play a Retired Sherlock Holmes

When he'll be done with X-Men: Days of Future Past where he reprises his role as Magneto, we'll probably be next seeing Sir Ian McKellen playing a retired Sherlock Holmes as lead in A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND to be directed by Oscar winner Bill Condon, director of such films as Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Kinsey, and Dreamgirls. Further casting will be announced in the coming weeks. AI Film, the production arm of the Icon UK Group owned by Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, has announced it is financing and co-producing the movie. [hit the jump to continue]

The story is set 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.

Based on a novel by Mitch Cullin, A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND, the screenplay is being adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher whose credits include The Duchess, Casanova and Stage Beauty.

Set to film next April in the UK, the film will be produced by Anne Carey, producer of Anton Corbijn’s The American, through her new venture Archer Gray Productions, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw Films, producers of the Oscar-winning British feature The King’s Speech, with Aviv Giladi, CEO of Icon/AI Film, and Len Blavatnik exec producing.  Christine Langan, Head of BBC Films, is an exec producer on behalf of BBC Films which is also co-financing.

Anne Carey says, “Mitch Cullin’s elegiac novel is not so much about solving a mystery, as it is about accepting life’s mysteries.  I could not be more excited about the talent who have come together to make this film a reality.”

Writer/director Condon, nominated by the Directors’ Guild of America for directing the critically acclaimed Dreamgirls which received two Oscar awards and eight nominations, is in Toronto this week for the world premiere of his latest film The Fifth Estate about the rise and fall of Wikileaks and its fascinating founder Julian Assange played by Benedict Cumberbatch.  Condon’s credits also include writing the Oscar nominated screenplay for the best picture winner Chicago, writing and directing Kinsey for which he won the Directors’ Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and directing The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2, the final instalments in the worldwide blockbuster franchise.

A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE MIND is the second time the director and actor have worked together.  Gods and Monsters, which Condon wrote and directed, won the best screenplay American Academy award for the filmmaker and a best actor nomination for McKellen.

AI Film CEO Aviv Giladi says, “Bill Condon and Ian McKellen are a perfect match for this clever and intriguing project, the third on our current production slate.  The next few months will be exciting as we move closer to shooting with our producer partners Anne Carey and Iain Canning.”