Six Degrees of Sherlockian Separation

Sunday is the 85th Academy Awards® and it is the eighth year for this little exercise of Sherlockian inanity. The last seven years I wrote this for SherlockPeoria but that weekly Webpage ended in June of last year. Inow have this blog and will carry on the tradition here. I will be using this year’s nominations for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, and the Best Director. In six steps or less, I will tie these nominees to a Sherlock Holmes film.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper/ Silver Linings Playbook

1.  Bradley Cooper/ Wedding Crashers (2005) with Owen Wilson.
2. Owen Wilson/ Shanghai Noon  (2000) with Lucy Liu
3. Lucy Liu/ Elementary

 Daniel Day-Lewis/ Lincoln

1. Daniel Day-Lewis/Gandhi (1985) with Ben Kingsley
2. Ben Kingsley/Without A Clue (1988)

Hugh Jackman/ Les Miserables

1. Hugh Jackman/ Van Helsing (2004) with Richard Roxburgh
2. Richard Roxburgh/The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002)

Joaquin Phoenix/ The Master

1. Joaquin Phoenix/ Gladiator (2000) with Richard Harris
2. Richard Harris/ King of the Wind (1990) with Ian Richardson
3. Ian Richardson/ The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)

Denzel Washington/ Flight

1. Denzel Washington/ Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh
2. Kenneth Branagh/ Shackleton (2002) with John Grillo
3. John Grillo/ Brazil (1985) with Jonathan Pryce
4. Jonnathan Pryce/ Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007)

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain/Zero Dark Thirty

1. Jessica Chastain/ Coriolanus (2011) with Ralph Fiennes
2. Ralph Fiennes/ The English Patient (1996) with Kevin Whatley
3. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
4. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

Jennifer Lawrence/ Silver Linings Playbook

1. Jennifer Lawrence/ The Hunger Games (2012) with Woody Harrelson
2. Woody Harrelson/No Country for Old Men (2007) with Tommy Lee Jones
3. Tommy Lee Jones/ Lonesome Dove (1989) with Robert Duvall
4. Robert Duvall/ The Seven Per-Cent Solution (1976)

Emmanuelle Riva/ Amour

1. Emmanuella Riva/ XXL (1997) with Gerard Depardieu
2. Gerard Depardieu/ Hamlet  (1996) with Judi Dench
3. Judi Dench/ A Study in Terror (1965)

Quvenzhane Wallis/ Beasts of the Southern Wild

1. Quvenzhane Wallis/ Twelve Years a Slave (2013) with Benedict Cumberbatch
2. Benedict Cumberbatch/ Sherlock  (2012)

Naomi Watts/ The Impossible

1. Naomi Watts/ Le Divorce  (2003) with Glenn Close
2. Glenn Close/ Hamlet (1990) with Ian Holms
3. Ian Holmes/ Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) with James Fox
4. James Fox/Sherock Holmes  (2009)

Best Director

Michael Haneke/ Amour

1. Benny's Video (1992) with Angela Winkler
2. Angela Winkler/ Peer Gynt (1971) with Bruno Ganz
3. Bruno Ganz/ Unknown (2011) with Liam Neeson
4. Liam Neeson/ Rob Roy (1995) with Ian Stewart
5. Ian Stewart/ The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes  (2000)

Benh Zeitlin/  Beasts of the Southern Wild

1. Benh Zeitlin/ The Egg (2005) with Max Goldblatt
2. Max Goldblatt/ Bushwacked(1995) with Daniel Stern
3. Daniel Stern/ Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) with Michael Caine
4. Michael Caine/ Without a Clue (1988)

Ang Lee/ Life of Pi

1. Ang Lee/Sense and Sensibility (1995) with Tom Wilkinson
2. Tom Wilkinson/ Inspector Morse (1985) with John Thaw
3. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

David O. Russell/ Silver Linings Playbook

1. David O. Russell/ The Fighter (2012)with Amy Adams
2. Amy Adams/ Charlie Wilson's War (2007) with Julia Roberts
3. Julia Roberts/ Mary Rielly (1996) with Wendy Knottingham
4. Wendy Knottingham/ Inspector Lewis (2008) with Kevin Whatley
5. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
6. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

Steven Spielberg/ Lincoln

1. Steven Spielberg/ Saving Private Ryan (1998) with Jeremy Daveis
2. Jeremy Davies/Solaris (2002) with Natascha McElhone
3. Natascha McElhone/ Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987) with George Baker
4. George Baker/ On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) with Diana Rigg
5. Diana Rigg/ Hospital (1971) with George C. Scott
6. George C. Scott/ They Might Be Giants (1971)

This wraps up another year of “Six-Degrees of Sherlockian Separation”  We will do it again for the 86th Annual Academy Awards®. I hope you have enjoyed the effort.

Happy Blogging (and movie watching) !!