Ian McKellen to play old age Sherlock Holmes in new film

Ian McKellen will play an old age Sherlock Holmes in a new film.

A Slight Trick of the Mind will be adapted from Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel of the same name, which imagines Arthur Conan Doyle’s infamous detective battling dementia in his twilight years, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The Big C actress Laura Linney will co-star as Sherlock’s housekeeper, Mrs Munro, in the film, which will be directed by Bill Condon. Condon has worked with both McKellen and Linney on previous projects, most recently working with Linney on his 2004 Alfred Kinsey biopic.

A Slight Trick of the Mind follows Sherlock Holmes as he works on his final case at the age of 63, and later as he obsesses over the unsolved crime, aged 91.

Condon said of the film: “It’s a really great mystery about who Sherlock Holmes is, but it’s also a lovely, delicate movie about what happens as you get older. I’m looking forward to the combined talent, skills, and smarts [of Linney and McKellen].

“Both of them are incredibly detail-oriented and do an amazing amount of work before they get to set, and then they dive off the board and become their characters.”

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