Oh Lord, just what Robert Downey Jr needs - another franchise to his name. But if we delve deeper, this one sounds like it could be heaps of fun... Variety says the actor who is next on our screens as the world's most famous literary detective in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, has now attached himself to another super sleuthing role, that of defense attorney Perry Mason in a motion picture at Warner Bros, likely the start of a new film series. Robert Downey Jr seems to have been courted for the project and he loved the idea of starring in it so much that it will be based on an original story fleshed out by the actor and David Gambino, one of the producers who has Kate Beckinsale's Whiteout and Jodie Foster's The Brave One on his producing CV. He also worked as an assistant on Gothika, Robert Downey Jr's comeback movie in 2003 where they presumably sparked a friendship and they are now on the hunt for a screenwriter to make it into a movie before a director is sought. Based on the books by Erle Stanley Gardner, the usual Perry Mason story involved the lawyer using his wits, quite often wacky and unusual methods and sometimes thrusting himself into dangerous situations to try and prove his client's innocence in a murder trial, often by implicating somebody else as the real culprit, who would then usually confess in a dramatic court room scene finale. Often his cases are seen as foolish endeavors as the man/woman accused seems so likely to be guilty but based on his gut, he sticks his neck on the line to get them acquitted, and of course he never loses. http://youtu.be/uiLXCCMHjfE Mason's first big screen outing was in the 1930s with Warren William playing the defense lawyer in a number of movies but it would be Raymond Barr who made the character truly famous from 1957 to 1966 with the long-running t.v. series. The character endured after Burr's show came to an end (and after the author's death in 1969) and Monte Markham and Brett Somers would play him in on the small screen and then there were no less than 30 follow-up small screen movies. The culmination of all this Perry Mason material is that the character's adventures are shown every single day on syndication around the world. Just like books, the film will be set in 1930's Los Angeles with all the familiar characters appearing such as Mason's secretary Della Street, private investigator Paul Drake, and lawyer nemesis Hamilton Burger. There's nothing in the original books about Mason being able to take care of himself physically as a bare knuckle fighter or as an action hero running around the streets so hopefully we aren't in for that kind of explosions heavy summer blockbuster, ala Holmes. As the above book cover suggests, I imagine the film will go much more film noir than the t.v. shows did. Gardner was an author we shouldn't forget who was an inspiration to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, the books are very much in the same pool as those. This will be the Downey Jr, I'm betting, from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (and isn't that a cool prospect) and as the author Gardner himself describes the character, he will play him arrogantly and controversially but as a winner;
You'll find that I'm a lawyer who has specialized in trial work, and in a lot of criminal work...I'm a specialist on getting people out of trouble. They come to me when they're in all sorts of trouble, and I work them out...If you look me up through some family lawyer or some corporation lawyer, he'll probably tell you that I'm a shyster. If you look me up through some chap in the District Attorney's office, he'll tell you that I'm a dangerous antagonist but he doesn't know very much about me. Erle Stanley Gardner, The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933)
The Case of the Velvet Claws is actually the name of the original Perry Mason novel and it gets the character entangled up with a femme fatale. I have little doubt this the original story will have been heavily influenced by this tale;
Perry Mason, criminal lawyer, is retained by a much-too-beautiful woman who obviously is concealing more than she is telling. She has heard that Perry Mason not only a law unto himself, but that he never lets a client down. She has been indiscreet, and is involved in blackmail. The case is immediately complicated by murder, and Perry Mason finds himself as busy keeping clear of the law himself as he is in saving his client. The action is swift, dramatic, convincing. The handling and solution of the case are well developed and logical perhaps because the author is a practicing lawyer with a trained legal mind. Mr. Gardners writing has a style and personality of its own. His characters are colorful and vital. The lawyer, Perry Mason, and his charming secretary, Della Street, we believe, will become famous characters to all detective story enthusiasts.
Certainly Downey Jr has the ability to charm our socks off and we are just happy as larry that he wants to play a new character (albeit a one that setups a franchise) so for at least one film we won't see him simply rotate Tony Stark outings with Sherlock Holmes performances. As for when this one can go? Well if they find a writer & director quickly there's no reason why it couldn't shoot after Robert Downey Jr is done with shooting Shane Black's Iron Man 3 (and by the way wouldn't he be the perfect man for this writing/directing job?) but it's all early days as the deal has just been signed this week.