S3 Casting Calls (Spoilers !!!)

[Carol the Dabbler]

There's someone on the infamous Tumblr who near as I understand it, claims to work in the casting department at Hartswood, and is posting what s/he claims to be some of the already-filled casting calls for Series 3 of Sherlock (omitting any that would be major spoilers).

 

Here's one batch:

 

 

 

WAITER (Male, 29 - 35)

 

late 20’s - mid 30’s

Waiter in a nice restaurant serving John (Martin Freeman) and his lady-friend, who bares an uncanny resemblance to his old cohort Sherlock. So we need an actor who MUST BE TALL & THIN , preferably with fair hair. urbane and dry. Good comic timing and a knack for deadpan delivery.

3 Scenes: 8 Lines

—-

MANAGER (Male, 40 - 55)

 

Manager in nice restaurant who has to stop a fight between John (Martin Freeman) and another guest. Slightly annoyed and concerned that the fight may rear its head again and unsure whether to call the police. Good character actor for this role.

2 Scenes: 4 Lines

—-

LAURA (Female, 18 - 22)

 

Late teens - early 20’s

Slightly plump , Goth Sherlock obsessive who is part of the Sherlock fan club. slightly moody and with an attitude, wears a deer stalker as she truly is Sherlock’s biggest fan.

A character actress with good comedy skills would be great.

2 small scenes : 5 Lines

—

 

 

and here's an apparent paraphrase of another batch (sorry, don't have a link for this one yet):

 

 

1. Howard, a middle-aged worker for the London Underground and a big train geek. "He lives, loves, eats, sleeps, and breathes the Tube, this is his life, he is a warm, open, and very affable chap." Sizable guest role (5 "great" scenes, lots of dialogue).

2. Fisk, an elderly man who lives alone in a shabby house with his cat. Small role (7 lines).

3. Dad to a young daughter at a Guy Fawkes Day bonfire. He doesn't believe his daughter when she insists that the Guy Fawkes in the fire is real and talking to her and trying to get help to get off the fire. Only 12 lines of dialogue but 6 scenes.

 

 

... as I say, claims ... claims ... apparent. Someone commented that the casting calls they've seen before don't generally give that much detail. Who knows?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There have been people posting on Twitter posing as Moffat so I take these things with a grain of salt.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I agree! But whether or not they're faking it, they're at least showing admirable self-restraint in refusing to post casting calls for anyone named Moran or Morstan.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

LOL....so very true.

[Carol the Dabbler]

* * * * I'm going for a likely (though presumably minor) spoiler here. You have been warned. * * * *

 

 

As I posted on the Series 3 Filming News thread this morning, Benedict Cumberbatch is reported to have filmed some location scenes last night in Bristol

 

Portland Square was the backdrop last night as Benedict Cumberbatch ... was filmed in front of what appeared to be a large bonfire....

I was in the kitchen peeling an apple, wondering if anything could be derived from that scanty information -- bonfire in a public square in (presumably) "London." Hmm, I thought, sounds kinda like -- OH. Sounds a whole lot like Guy Fawkes Day!

 

Dad to a young daughter at a Guy Fawkes Day bonfire. He doesn't believe his daughter when she insists that the Guy Fawkes in the fire is real and talking to her and trying to get help to get off the fire. Only 12 lines of dialogue but 6 scenes.

Suddenly, the last one of those rumored casting calls above is sounding pretty plausible. (Any guesses as to who "Guy" really is?)

 

On the other hand, I'm wondering whether those suspiciously-detailed casting calls may have been deliberately-leaked red herrings. They knew they were going to have a scene around a public bonfire (for whatever reason). Pretty hard to hide, so they gave us a spurious reason ahead of time, trusting that we would put two and two together and get five.

 

A person could get a headache around here.

[Carol the Dabbler]

P.S.: The current filming is presumably for only the first episode, "The [*cringe*] Empty Hearse" (since the two episodes being filmed before the June break have different directors). John's most recent blog entry is dated June 16th. Guy Fawkes Day is November 5th. If the bonfire scene takes place during Sherlock's undercover stint, then (assuming that we aren't being led astray) there's at least a span of (almost) five months between The Fall and The Reunion -- a fair start on the canonical three years.

[Carol the Dabbler]

If you haven't yet watched that fan video from the recent filming in Newport, or read more details (elsewhere on the internet) about it, then this might be a spoiler, so

 

WARNING * * * WARNING * * * WARNING

 

You have been warned. (Though that does seem a bit superfluous, here in the Spoilers, Rumours & Speculation forum.)

 

These casting calls are definitely starting to sound like the real thing. Have another look at the middle one in the first batch above:

 

MANAGER (Male, 40 - 55)

 

Manager in nice restaurant who has to stop a fight between John (Martin Freeman) and another guest. Slightly annoyed and concerned that the fight may rear its head again and unsure whether to call the police. Good character actor for this role.

2 Scenes: 4 Lines

The person who originally posted this clearly showed admirable restraint in not revealing the name of the "other guest" (the one who ends up with a bloody nose), or of John's "lady friend" mentioned in the first casting call above!

 

Added: On second thought, the casting call says "nice restaurant" and the one in Newport was described as a kebab place. So I'm now guessing that the "nice" restaurant is The Daffodil in Cheltenham, where they're filming today and tomorrow. Interesting -- Sherlock got the bloody nose in Newport. Just how many fights are there going to be?

[Carol the Dabbler]

I just checked the mystery casting person's tumblr posts, and here are a few more (with the only apparent spoiler hidden):

Here's the actual link for the second batch ("one month ago") quoted in my first post.

From "two weeks ago" (sorry, no individual link for this):
 

Another Sherlock role

Mr. Szikora, Watson’s patient, “seedy” dude who runs a secret porn mag store. Has a full beard. Complains about having to pee the whole time.

 

From "five days ago" (sorry, no individual link):
 

 

ooh…


sherlock role, not sure if post… also do people know who is playing Mary? Because I do but I have no idea what info is out there

 

 

Also from "five days ago":
 

Not gonna post the sherlock role because it’s too spoilery but

it appears as if they’re doing some interesting psychology with Watson and the types of people he dates (this is just my impression though)

Can’t wait!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Time to count up the score:
 

WAITER (Male, 29 - 35)

late 20’s - mid 30’s
Waiter in a nice restaurant serving John (Martin Freeman) and his lady-friend, who bares an uncanny resemblance to his old cohort Sherlock. So we need an actor who MUST BE TALL & THIN , preferably with fair hair. urbane and dry. Good comic timing and a knack for deadpan delivery.
3 Scenes: 8 Lines

 
They apparently cut this role, decided to go straight for the real thing.
 

MANAGER (Male, 40 - 55)

Manager in nice restaurant who has to stop a fight between John (Martin Freeman) and another guest. Slightly annoyed and concerned that the fight may rear its head again and unsure whether to call the police. Good character actor for this role.
2 Scenes: 4 Lines

 
And a near-cut here.  This fellow was presumably one of the men who prevented John from strangling Sherlock.
 

LAURA (Female, 18 - 22)

Late teens - early 20’s
Slightly plump , Goth Sherlock obsessive who is part of the Sherlock fan club. slightly moody and with an attitude, wears a deer stalker as she truly is Sherlock’s biggest fan.
A character actress with good comedy skills would be great.
2 small scenes : 5 Lines

 
Bingo!  (She definitely changed her mind about the hat, though.)
 

Howard, a middle-aged worker for the London Underground and a big train geek. "He lives, loves, eats, sleeps, and breathes the Tube, this is his life, he is a warm, open, and very affable chap." Sizable guest role (5 "great" scenes, lots of dialogue).

 
Another hit!  (But the actor they chose looks younger than middle-aged to me.)
 

2. Fisk, an elderly man who lives alone in a shabby house with his cat. Small role (7 lines).

 
Does anybody remember this man?
 

Dad to a young daughter at a Guy Fawkes Day bonfire. He doesn't believe his daughter when she insists that the Guy Fawkes in the fire is real and talking to her and trying to get help to get off the fire. Only 12 lines of dialogue but 6 scenes.

 
A definite hit!  But sounds like the role got trimmed a bit.
 

Mr. Szikora, Watson’s patient, “seedy” dude who runs a secret porn mag store. Has a full beard. Complains about having to pee the whole time.

For sure!  (Glad to know that his urinary problem cleared up!)

 

So yeah, these were for real.