9/12/2011

Kelly Reilly in passenger seat with Denzel Washington in Flight

There were other people in Sherlock Holmes other than Jude Law, Robert Downey, and Rachel McAdams? You coulda fooled me. Apparently Dr. Watson had a girlfriend or something, played by British thesp Kelly Reilly. She'll be back in the film's sequel, A Game of Shadows, apparently as Watson's wife now. Good for her. She'll no doubt be lost in the shuffle again, especially since it seems even more geared towards dancing around the curiously close bond between the detective and his "best bud", but Reilly has snagged a role in another film that promises to give her far more screen time.

Reilly has landed the female lead opposite Denzel Washington in Flight, the first live action film in over a decade by director Robert Zemeckis(Castaway). Reilly's name has been popping up a lot lately even though she doesn't seem to be scoring any of the major gigs she's vying for. This'll be the greatest career jump for her by far, beating out the omnipresent Olivia Wilde for the part.

Flight is sortof like the story of airline captain Sully Sullenberger, but if he were less heroic and more of a douche nozzle. Denzel will play Whip(Whip? Is he an 80s movie bully?), an airline pilot deemed a hero after he most of his passengers on a damaged plane. That is until the investigators and journalists start doing a little digging, and questioning Whip's role in the disaster, with accusations that he was drunk while flying. Reilly will play a drug addict who forms a bond with Whip as they both try to get their lives in order. [Deadline]