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Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to play comedic Holmes & Watson

The pair has reportedly been searching for the perfect project to reunite on after Step Brothers and Talladega Nights 

Clarisse Loughrey
Wednesday 17 August 2016 08:26 BST
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One of the most criminally undervalued comedies of the last decade, Step Brothers proved a near-magical onscreen pairing of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly; a comedic chemistry previously sparked in 2006's Talladega Nights.

And one hopefully rekindled with their newest project, Sony's Holmes & Watson; a freshly comedic take on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic characters. Deadline reports the project will be helmed by Get Hard's Etan Cohen, and is the result of a lengthy search by the pair for a new project to collaborate on.

Ferrell will play Sherlock Holmes, with Reilly filling in as the ever-faithful Watson; though it was originally Sacha Baron Cohen who was attached to the Watson role.

It was pretty much only a matter of time before the comedy genre dipped its toe into the current Sherlock Holmes hysteria; it'll be curious to see whether the film will consciously play into the current slew of adaptations, from Benedict Cumberbatch's BBC show to Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu's series Elementary, as well as the Robert Downey Jr. film franchise.

Sherlock is currently gearing up for the premiere of its fourth - and possibly last - season; meanwhile, Downey Jr. has revealed Sherlock Holmes 3 is set to shoot by the end of this year, with Guy Ritchie returning to direct.

Sherlock: Teaser trailer series 4

A release date is yet to be set for Holmes & Watson, though production will launch at the end of November.

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