HERBERT: WHAT SORT OF DECISIONS DID YOU MAKE ABOUT THE WATSON CHARACTER TOGETHER?
Brett: We asked ourselves, “Who’d stay with Holmes? Well, Watson does. But therefore why does he stay?” All right, he’s fascinated with deduction – he still has never recovered [from the surprise at] Holmes’s knowing he had just come back from Afghanistan – but there’s more than that. [Holmes is] an impossible person to share rooms with! I think that what I found in what I call the under-bedding of the part is that somehow Watson sees this man’s need. First of all, Holmes falls apart when he’s not working. Well, that’s easy to play because actors do that – we all fall apart, really, when we’re suddenly made redundant. But what does Holmes do?
He actually shoots up, straight to the vein, the seven-percent solution. He smokes too much. He scrapes on his violin, not very well. He does chemistry – nearly blows people to pieces if he’s not very careful or, as happens in “The Solitary Cyclist,” nearly sets fire to [221B] Baker Street. So he’s obviously a problem child as well as a brilliant friend. Watson sees that. Watson sees that Holmes can’t say “Thank you”; he can’t say “Good night,” can’t say “Help.” But what Holmes does occasionally is rather sweet little things like in “A Scandal in Bohemia” he tells Watson, “You see, I did remember you were coming; here are your cigars.” And it’s the little things that mean a lot. I tried to show how much Holmes does actually need Watson without actually saying it.
I think that Holmes would be dead – (with a twinkle in his eye) I mean, just pretending that they were real people – if Watson weren’t there. If Watson suddenly decided to go and live, let’s say, in Madagascar, Holmes would be dead inside of six weeks. And that’s what we chose to play.
HERBERT: DOES SHERLOCK HOLMES EXPERIENCE FEAR? AND IF SO, DOES WATSON KNOW IT?
Brett: Yes. I put that in, in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” Holmes is quaking, but he’s got his back to Watson. An actor’s got a choice in dramatizing something. Watson doesn’t see it.
HERBERT: CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU GET OUT OF HOLMES IN DISGUISE?
Brett: [Holmes finds] escape. Escape from himself.
HERBERT: AND WHEN HE HAS HIS CLOSEST BRUSH WITH A WOMAN IN THE AFFAIR OF IRENE ADLER IN “A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA,” IT IS SIGNIFICANT THAT HE’S IN DISGUISE.
Brett: Yes. This is the lovemaking of a shy man. [He would like to remove Irene, too] from his life because he can’t waste his precious energies on emotion. But Irene sings divinely, and that means a very great deal to him because he loves music.
The interesting thing about this is, why the two disguises? Don’t forget, these [stories] were written pre-Freud. You mustn’t over-analyze because that can cripple. But this is my estimation. He uses a groom – a rough animal which he’s not – for the approach. He then [disguises himself as] a priest. I think the priest is a spiritual element used as Holmes chooses to get near to her.
I’d love to go back and do that film again because there are so many things in it. When he pretends to be hurt, Irene comes very close. The actress, Gayle Hunnicutt, wears a scent called “Bluebell” by Penhaligon. Holmes is affected by this – his senses are acute – and he becomes disoriented and fails to get [the compromising picture of Irene Adler and the Grand Duke]. Holmes covers his error. He says he’ll go back. But she has cheated him and gone away. She’s a very remarkable woman. Holmes changed his whole code of ethics about women after meeting her, but he does this at a cost. The question is, is it worth the cost?
John Mortimer, who wrote Rumpole of the Bailey, said if you move in the circle of crime you learn the ways of the criminal mind and you are touched by this, you are tarnished by it. Holmes has to deal with people in distress, therefore he’s colored by that, too. And as the stories move along, you get Moriarty [who represents] the final element of evil. Holmes is to be erased. In comes the biggie, Moriarty. And in “The Final Problem,” you see Holmes facing death.
HERBERT: AND WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD DEATH?
Brett: Well, I play him – well, that’s giving it away. Holmes knows that Moriarty’s network will get him. So very sweetly he says, “Listen, Watson, I’m going to leave the country because I don’t want to endanger you.” But then he turns around and says, “Do you want to come with me?” So the answer is, yes, hes scared. And then he uses the Reichenbach Falls as one of the greatest coups of all times. But that’s another story.