If you're looking out your window onto a rainy day, remember that it could be worse. If this were the 19th century,that'd be a thick pea-souper that'd give you respiratory problems soon as look at you - but on the upside, you might also get to hang out with Victorian sleuth Sherlock Holmes, as brought to life by Robert Downey Jr in Guy Ritchie's upcoming sequel **Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows **and on the cover of the new Empire magazine.This time, Sherlock himself is a bit more pulled together - he's got some snazzy new duds, for instance - and the crew are determined not to rest on their laurels (or sacks of cash) from last time. Says Downey, "Last time we were, I think, treated very kindly, considering that the movie had enough really good, bright, sweet parts and it kinda held up. However, it wasn't exactly the most innovative or clever act three of any movie. But we're all confident that, this time, for the bones of the story, we couldn't work it out any better than we have."
We also chatted to Jared Harris about playing arch villain Professor Moriarty. "He's the ringmaster. He casts his shadow over the whole film, he's the motivator of the plot.
"I'm sure you've noticed that people who don't really give a fuck what anybody else thinks, and don't care what the consequences of their actions are are long as they're okay, and don't believe in any kind of divine retribution, they have a licence to do absolutely anything they want. And people who operate within a moral compass, like Sherlock Holmes, their hands are tied. So I'd say Moriarty is very dangerous."
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows is out on December 16 as a sort of early Christmas present. The new Empire is out on Thursday, as a very early Christmas present.