Russell Crowe is reportedly being lined up to play Dr Watson in Guy Ritchie's forthcoming Sherlock Holmes movie.

The British director, whose latest film, RocknRolla, is out on September 5, is working a new edgy re-telling of the famed sleuth's adventures. Robert Downey Jr has already signed on to play Sherlock Holmes - and The Sun is reporting that Crowe is to play the detective's long suffering assistant Dr Watson.

A movie insider told the newspaper, “Russell wants the part, Guy wants Russell. All they’ve got left to do is dot the i’s and cross the t’s.”

Ritchie's version of the Holmes' tales sees the detective displaying his little known martial arts and fencing skills. It is based on a forthcoming comic series.

Downey said of the part, "I’ve got to spend some time with Guy and I love his take on it. We’re both martial arts enthusiasts and in the original stories of Sherlock Holmes, he’s kind of a bad-ass and a bare-knuckle boxer and studies the rare fictional martial art of baritsu.

“If you look baritsu up, they can’t even really tell you what it is, so it gives us a lot of leeway. It’s a period piece where you don’t modernise it, you just realise how modern it was.”

Crowe must like the idea of starring in retellings of famous fictional English characters. He was due to play the Sheriff of Nottingham later this year in Ridley Scott's take on the famous Robin Hood legend - which would see the story being told from the Sheriff's point of view. It has now been been pushed back to next year now