Claim: Robert Downey Jr. has portrayed the character Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes is a 2009 British-American neo-noir mystery period action film based on the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . The film was directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Andrew Kosove , Broderick Johnson , Susan Downey and Dan Lin . The screenplay , by Michael Robert Johnson , Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg , was developed from a story by Wigram and Johnson . Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively . In the film , set in 1890 , eccentric detective Holmes and his companion Watson are hired by a secret society to foil a mysticist 's plot to expand the British Empire by seemingly supernatural means . Rachel McAdams stars as their former adversary Irene Adler and Mark Strong portrays villain Lord Henry Blackwood .   The film went on general release in the United States on 25 December 2009 , and on 26 December 2009 in the UK , Ireland , the Pacific and the Atlantic .   Sherlock Holmes received mostly positive critical reaction , praising the story , action sequences , set pieces , costume design , Hans Zimmer 's musical score , and Downey 's performance as the main character , winning Downey the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy . The film was also nominated for two Academy Awards , Best Original Score and Best Art Direction , which it lost to Up and Avatar , respectively .   A sequel , Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows , was released on 16 December 2011 .