Having played the Iconic comic book hero Tony Stark with such ease, charisma and likeable charm, Robert Downey Jr. is a serious Hollywood star right now and this has to be seen as a major coup for Brit director Guy Ritchie.

Variety say Downey Jr. has agreed to star as Sherlock Holmes in Ritchie’s new big budget film drama of the famous detective from Baker Street.

Shooting begins in October, from a polished script draft by Anthony Peckham (Don’t Say A Word).

No word on who will play Dr. Watson, or whether the villainous Professor Moriarty is in the film.

Warner Bros. are desperate to get the project under-way before Columbia and Judd Apatow’s spoof comedy version which is also being fast tracked with Sacha Baron Cohen (as Holmes) and Will Ferrell (as Watson) starring in a script by Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen.

Downey Jr already has an Oscar nomination in his bag for playing a British legend, albeit a real life one in Charles Chaplin. Downey Jr’s version of Holmes could be the most charismatic but at the same time neurotic than we have ever seen before. Can’t wait to see it.